I don't want to go too off track, but something has been bothering me for a little while. I am starting to realize how very lonely my life as a writer is. This is not to say I don't have a life, I do, but most of it involves work. I know very few people and my circle is very small. I am trying to change that, through this blog and other means, but its been six years since I moved back home and I feel I have not advanced at all.
Part of the problem is work schedule. Working nights makes it hard to do anything since most activities seem to happen during the day and over the course of normal weeknights. Most writing critique groups locally fall in this category and as such its hard to find a niche. That is one of the reasons I want to find an editor or a mentor, someone to point me in the right direction. In itself, that is a challenge. I recently contacted some wonderful sounding people, but they didn't feel they were a fit for me.
I suppose as a writer I want reassurance. I want correspondence. I want right and wrong, good and bad. I want to be around like-minded people. At the same time I dread critique. I sat through years of it in high school and I grew to hate the nit-pick attitude that seemed to radiate from the groups. Its easy to get defensive about your work though, but even in my older years I found more people were interested in hawking their own work than equal interest in mine.
I for one always try to give equal interest in people's work. I love reading and giving suggestions. I always like seeing new ideas and opportunities. I miss that the most about groups, about critiques and friends. My question now is how do I get that back given my schedule? How to I reach out more with what resources I have? I yearn for suggestions, for anything? I yearn for a reason and purpose so that I no longer feel I am shouting to a giant void.
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