Life in a Nut's Shell

In amongst other projects, I've been working on a YA novel for a couple of years. I've been a fan of Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way for at least a decade, when I first used it while I was coming out of my motherhood cocoon to start my writing career. So, when I was buying a copy for a friend, I also bought Finding Water for myself. I'm continually amazed (though I shouldn't be) at how accurate it is regarding my current state of mind. I'm in week 3 right now, Finding a Sense of Support. Writers tend to regard themselves as loners, because our work is usually done in solitude. But so are lots of other professions, and those practitioners don't regard themselves as loners. I've made sure that I don't write in complete isolation, and I have a remarkable number of good friends, ones that I can rely on for support. Some of them are writers; the rest are not -- we can't isolate our profession, either. I go to conferences and retreats to meet other writers (because it's really nice to be able to have someone else instantly understand what you mean by a "good" rejection, and to hear writerly small talk), and I have lunch with a group of local children's literature writers on a semi-regular basis. But I also keep in touch with friends involved in other organizations and who have other interests. I'm not one who insists that just because I enjoy something that they ought to enjoy it, too.

Writers can write in solitude, but they shouldn't live in solitude. After all, what are stories about? People. If you don't know what others' lives are like, you're going to have difficulty make ficitional characters seem real.

Labels: Finding Water, Julia Cameron, The Artists' Way, writing