One lesson seems to ring out louder and clearer and more annoyingly than any other in my graduate studies: build a community of writer friends who will help, scold, encourage, and promote your work as long as you do the same for them. Skill will grow as you practice, but a community needs to be fostered and loved and taken out for drinks every once in a while.
This is an idea I’ve taken to heart, and something I’ve apparently been accidentally living by my entire life. I love working with people who love working with people. Call is “networking” or “social engineering” or just “being a nice guy.” We weird bags of meat are social creatures (even if we try to pretend we’re not) and having a community gives us purpose and drive beyond scratching that internal, artistic itch.
You can tell yourself you write only for you, and that may very well be true, but I’m sure you’re not part of the majority. We write to tell stories, express ourselves, put a tiny bit of our soul into some words for someone else to see. If we have no readers (read: no community) what’s the point?
Since I am a bad liar, I won’t lie. This is a thinly veiled attempt to say thank you for all of the “blog award” nominations that I have been receiving, while simultaneously not sending out any myself. I suck, I know. I know!
It’s a logistics issue really. I received seven (7!) “One Lovely Blog Awards,” which were very, very flattering and I truly thank everyone who was kind enough to think of me when they received theirs. The “rules” of the award are tricky though; I’m supposed to link to 15 other blogs that I think should receive this award and say seven random things about myself. By my writer-math, that’s (7×15) 105 blogs I need to plug. That also means I need to say 49 random things. That’s a lot of stuff do to, and I’m not sure I’m up to the task!
Disclaimer: I will never speak ill of reading. Ever. I am of the opinion that it is one of (if not the) best thing you can do to improve yourself as a person. I encourage you to read. Read often, and with passion.
But I openly admit that I do not follow 105 blogs. Sure, I may have read several articles on that many (or more) blogs over my storied years on the internet, but I just don’t have time to read so much. I actively follow maybe eight (maybe). I read a lot of other stuff (news, books, articles, shampoo bottles, SharePoint administrator guides), but as of the past three or four years, it has taken a back seat to my writing.
If I read that much, I’d never actually write anything, which kind of defeats the purpose for me.
Which brings me to my advice: a writing community is great! It is also an easy way to avoid doing any actual writing. If you find yourself reading significantly more than you are writing, you might need to reevaluate your creative habits. Reading is great, but it isn’t a direct substitute for writing.
If you’re reading, you’re a reader. If you’re writing, you’re a writer. It doesn’t work when flipped around.
You should build a community of people you can talk to, who will help you with your craft, and who understand your work. They should be a catalyst for your creativity, not an escape from duty. I want everyone to write, so we all have something to read. If we all just read, there would be nothing to read, right?
Anyway, to keep in some spirit of these blog awards and not be a total flake, here are seven things you probably didn’t know (or want to know) about me:
1. I am an IT nerd. I was a network engineer for a few years, and now spend my working hours scrutinizing technical documentation. I also customized all of the CSS on this here blog and love web design.
2. I’m not a vegetarian, but I don’t eat very much meat. It just doesn’t sit well with me, and I really enjoy vegetables. Avocados are my favorite.
3. I have severely limited range of motion in my left elbow from an injury in 2010. I am considering full joint replacement surgery, but my orthopedist worries that I am too young for something so drastic.
4. I (very occasionally) smoke a tobacco pipe. I like sweet tobacco blends like English Black Cavendish and Royal Vanilla.
5. I don’t know how to tie a neck tie, mainly because I don’t like to wear them. They seem (and have always seemed) like a silly piece of clothing to me.
6. My wife and I are known to go to the Maryland Renaissance Festival in full costume. I have a large brimmed black hat with a huge feather in it that I wear around the house for fun.
7. I play the mandolin. I’m not in a band and I’m not very good. I can, however, play the theme from Star Wars and am working on the Mos Eisley Cantina song.
Thank you again all for the nominations. I’m not ignoring any of you or trying to be disrespectful, I just wanted to be honest as to why I wasn’t reciprocating.
Ultimately, you guys rock. Without you reading and commenting, I’d still be soliciting feedback from my mom each week. Not that her feedback is bad. She’s just a bit biased.
Here is a community of ducks. They work collaboratively to seek shade for group-naps. Or they’re just smart enough to avoid the direct summer heat. Tough call.
Tagged: advice, blog awards, community, craft and draft, humor, readers, reading, thank you, writing
Literature and Libation 
Well put. The math really shows the problem there. As one of your avid readers, I’m glad you spend the time you do on writing.
Thanks Phil, your support is, as always, appreciated.
I think I’m one of those few who actually likes writing more than reading. Most of the time, at least.
The math says it all! Since I have failed to comply in the prescribed manner for the blog awards I’ve received, I’ve done the next best thing. I’ve acknowledged each blog award (and the generous giver) on an Awards page – and every so often I do a post that points to other blogs that I think are very good.
This is a great idea; I’d much rather give a nod to a great post than just link for the perfuntory-ness of it. I’ll probably do that for everyone who nominated me, as soon as I get some time to sit down and read 🙂
I couldn’t agree more with the reading vs writing. It’s tough, because I’d love to read all the great blogs that come my way, but there’s only x amount of time.
Yea, don’t get me wrong; I have days where I read and read and read and read. But I know that this whole blogging thing is 85% writing, 11% reading, and 31% perspiration. Wait. Don’t listen to that.
If I wanted to just read them all, I wouldn’t bother with all these posts all the time 🙂
Congrats on your nominations. The effort of trying to participate in those things is what keeps a pile of them in my “draft posts” folder… I don’t blame you for going this route.
“If you find yourself reading significantly more than you are writing, you might need to reevaluate your creative habits. Reading is great, but it isn’t a direct substitute for writing.” –ahh! You’ve exposed my weakness. Thank you, I’ll start reevaluating now.
Do you participate in NaNoWriMo?
Yep! Love the concept of NaNoWriMo. Last year was my first year, and my first win. Ended up at about 82,500 words by December 1.
I plan to do it again this year, but it might be a collection of short stories instead of one big novel 🙂
Glad I could kick your ass into reevaluating!
I’ve come to learn and appreciate this bit of advice a lot more in the past couple weeks. It not only helps from a writing standpoint, but also as a social benefit. It’s wonderful to sit in a roomful of writers and think, “I’m not the only one who’s insane!” I really like that feeling. I hope to get closer to the new writing group on campus as the year goes on.
Yea! I think my favorite part about community is the different, yet accurate perspectives. It’s hard to take a non-writer seriously if they criticize your work from a weird angle, but they may have a completely valid point that you can’t see or they just aren’t articulating into “writer-speak.”
Wow. after reading this i feel even more honored that you took the time to answer my silly questions– it was because #7 was missing, right? Ten questions seem less daunting than eleven… Thanks again and keep writing, drinking, and reading!