Categories
Writing and Publishing

Seven Reasons Why Writers Need Each Other

Last weekend I was at a writers retreat. What were we retreating from? I think in one way or another we all chose to be there to enjoy a reprieve from the status quo. We were retreating from normalcy. For most writers most of the time, writing is a solitary activity. We toil in isolation, […]

Categories
Writing and Publishing

National Novel Writing Month

November is National Novel Writing Month, “NaNoWriMo” for short. The idea is to write with abandon throughout the month, completing the first draft of a novel by November 30. Writers who embark on this annual quest, do so within a community of other sojourners who encourage and support one another to keep moving forward. (In […]

Categories
Writing and Publishing

Do You Write in a Spiritual Community?

As a writer, I write alone; it’s a solitary activity. So it’s good for me to periodically emerge from my self-imposed cocoon and spend time with other people—and other writers are the people who understand me best, those with who I am most comfortable to be around. I just returned from a Christian Writers conference. […]

Categories
Writing and Publishing

What I’m Looking For in a Critique Group

Writing is a solitary effort, a task pursued in private. Yet the result is public. Bridging that gap, between originator and audience, sits the critique group. A properly functioning assemblage will help members distinguish between their junk and their jewels, serving to keep the drivel under wraps while propelling the exceptional to greater heights. While […]