I’m swinging with Jaime Wright today! Well, blog swinging that is. I’m over there and she’s over here! So read all her awesomeness and then skip over there by clicking HERE. Don’t forget to follow her blog if you don’t already, and be a doll or tough guy and go “like” her writer page on facebook. She asks lots of interesting questions and cool conversations take place all the time.
Tomorrow I’ll be talking about my journey in writing over at Dawn Alexander’s
I’m also at Jennifer Slattery’s blog, today, talking about hoarding. Are YOU a hoarder? Come by!
So, heeeeeere’s Jaime!
Jess – wow! I’m on your blog! I feel like – important.
And important is just what friendships are meant to make you feel – at least I believe so. There’s nothing neater than when a co-worker/friend shows up at work and plops your favorite hazelnut soy latte on your desk (yes, it happens frequently). It makes me feel important. Or maybe valued is a better word.
Value in the writing world is critical. It’s a world where – frankly speaking – you spend most of your time feeling like a dead opossum that just got smucked by a semi truck and double-smucked by some rich dude driving a Hummer and then obliterated by a cowboy in a Dodge diesel. Fine. I’m graphic. Needless to say, we fledgling writers who are struggling to impress an agent, aching to sign with an editor, and trying to understand what the heck it is we just wrote … well, we need to be valued. A few too many rejections suffered alone is enough to make me bust the screen out of my laptop and short out its motherboard. Just be done with it.
Fellow friends in the writing world can relate to my hissy fits. They can understand the sadness and even the tears. They know what it feels like to give up when you’ve gone three weeks without writing one word because life is so busy you wonder if you’re living a pipe dream. They comprehend the true meaning of writer’s block.
Two months ago, I was pretty sure I was hanging up writing altogether. It wasn’t for lack of self-confidence. Lord knows I have enough of that. 😛 It was for timing, and sometimes the lack of time. I posted my resolve to quit on Twitter and emailed a few critical people – my critique partner and my mentor. While none of them told me the answer, all of them gave me encouragement in whatever direction I took. Their presence gave me value – encouragement – importance. Not arrogant importance. The type of importance that made me feel a bit like Moses when he needed Aaron and Joshua to lift up his arms because his strength was not enough.
Needless to say, it was shortly after that the Lord brought Jess into my life – via a little social network called Twitter. Gosh dang it – if I don’t love Twitter! Jess gets my sarcasm, my borderline sense of humor, and she’s short – she’s really – short. And I’m really tall. Funny how you picture a person you’ve never met physically and you find out facts that make you giggle.
We need each other. Plain and simple. We need people who UNDERSTAND our value as writers and to reinforce that in our low points. I’m still writing, by the way, and I haven’t busted my laptop. Although tonight I feel a bit like the smucked opossum, I know Jessica will make me laugh. S’all good, peeps J
Who’s your Aaron or Joshua? Who lifts your arms when you’re tired and how have your writing friends impacted your writing world?
Jessica is a great encourager, and so are you! I've really enjoyed getting to know the both of you better over these past few months. Wish I were going to be seeing ya'll at the conference… 🙁
I am blessed to have several "Aaron" and "Joshua's" in my life. Some of them are online friends, some that I've met in real life. there's nothing like the power of social media to bring them right next to me when I need them. Whether it be a phone call, TWitter, Facebook-I can always count on my friends!
I love Jaime!! Great stuff and so true. I don't know what I'd do without my writer friends! Probably shrivel up and die. I'm feeling dramatic today.
It's so true! Writing would be such a lonely world without my writer friends. They truly understand and "get" the ups and downs that go along with it.
I love this post! Probably cause I love both of you! Two ladies that totally make me laugh out loud. And who doesn't love that?
I love your friendship with Jessica, Jamie, and your description of the possum. 🙂
I have some writing buddies that prop me up when I'm losing it.
Great post!
My hubby lifts me up. He's my all around partner.
You are too funny, Jaime! Still chuckling over that opposum.
I hit one of those want-to-give-up moments not too long ago. Some of my strongest supporters are people I met online, too, and they talked some sense into me. Nothing like being talked off the ledge, huh? 🙂
Love this! My Aarons and Joshuas are, slightly kiddie as it may sound, my Mom and Dad…and my grandma and grandpa, too 🙂 They build me up in so many ways, no matter how old I get.
But I've gotta have writer friends, too, who understand my novel angst and sometimes (okay, often) roller coastery creative temperament. 🙂
This has been such a blast today! So fun to read everyone's comments. 🙂
Jaime, it's great to see you here at Jessica's pad!
Writer friends are the best at reviving smucked road kill! Couldn't do without them, either!
Love this, Jaime! Hmmm – Aaron and Joshua, yea they're definitely needed! One of my sweet prayer partners keeps me encouraged by her constant prayers and notes! And my sis-in-law, who's an author, has spoken words of encouragement when I've been ready to call it quits. Shudder to think where I'd be without them!! Great post! Popping over from here to read Jessie's blog over there!! 🙂