Community

Since this is about writing I'm not talking about the television show. This month's theme has been community as it applies to writers. My own "community" consists a lot of online type interactions and less people to people (unless it's November and that crazy NaNoWriMo thing) but it's a supportive community nonetheless.

These days there's a lot going on via the internet. I see it as both a blessing and a curse. The internet has given me access to a much wider community of writers and thinkers to bounce ideas off of and talk to about writing. This is a good thing. The downside to the internet forums and communities is the lack of person to person, face to face contact. When I lived closer to The Big City I had a writing group that a friend and I had started to keep meeting after NaNoWriMo ended. We had bi-weekly meetings (or write-ins) at a local coffee shop and while writing did get done there was a great deal of socializing as well. We had critiques as well and while these are all things you can get online (minus coffee and yummy pastries from good looking barristas) there's nothing that really can take place of human interaction. It's just not the same. However I think every writer needs community and people that understand the crazy things that go on in a writer's brain. (Think plot bunnies or something similar.)

As I said before, I do participate in online communities, much more so now that I live further from The Big City. There are writing groups around but they tend to cater to older (50 yrs + crowd) or younger (high school age) groups. I've found it hard to be accepted or welcomed into either so I've just let it slide for now and stick to my online presence. It's sad but at this point (expecting baby #2 in November) I'm not ready to try and set up a writing group from scratch.

Since that's my case I have to say that there are a number of supportive online communities for writers out there. The first I should mention of course is the Forward Motion for Writers community. They plan and put together topics for the monthly posts that I do. Yep, this would be one of those. It's a forum-based community that has chats and groups for just about every topic a writer can think of. If you want something more specific there's Scribophile, an online critiquing community. You can't just ask for critiques but rather have to give some in order to get some. While some people think it bothersome I think it's one of the best ways to become a better writer so it's never bothered me much. It's gathered all kinds of writers and thinkers so you really get a good variety of input. Those are my two main go to spots for writerly community type things.

Anticipation for 2013 - Projects Ahead

Every year it comes down to it...my least favorite question: "So what are your writing goals/projects for the year?" I hate that question with an undying passion. Mostly I hate it so because it reminds me that another year has gone by with what I feel is little to no progress on any of my projects.

In reality I do get quite a bit done and as my DH is so anxious to point out I do have a whole house, family and two jobs to maintain as well. I remind myself that I've done at least fifty thousand words for NaNoWriMo. I try for another 50K during one of the NaNo Camps as well. I'm not so hot at editing but I'm getting better. I've also logged on to Scribophile to get some feedback since I've moved away from my previous writing group. I miss the camaraderie of that group and it certainly helped me get my word count in once a week. Anyways...I suppose I should actually think about my goals now for the year. I'll set them below.

1. Complete Summer of the Sword. 
Yes this was my NaNo project two years in a row but I'm still not content with it. Not to mention I'll lose a bunch in editing, I'm sure. I'm still not sure how it's going to end.

2. Post one chapter of above work on Scribophile for critiques per month.
The intent is that after being on for one month I'll have at least 3 good critiques and can get to editing while the next is getting looked at.

3. Rework my ideas for Nighttime Reading and make a functioning outline.
Another project that I started and still not completely satisfied with it. I'm doing a class and possibly will use that for my work there.

No, I don't have publishing in there but I'm still working at making myself a good, habitual writer and editor. Writing once a day is fine and all but that's not all there is to it. I'm hoping that this year, by throwing some editing in I'll be making myself a better over all writer and more prepared to publish, eventually.