It’s the community of writers that make it worth it

There is no way any rational person would take a job where for every 1000 reprimands and criticisms of his work he received one, however faint, “nice job.” That’s a writer’s professional life — rejection after rejection after rejection, with the acceptances typically tossed in at the point just before you give it up for good.

I’m convinced there wouldn’t be any writers if it weren’t for the community of writers. I for sure wouldn’t be able to handle the isolation, and the challenges of the profession, if I didn’t have the benefit of knowing, and being a part of, a group of people that awe me with their talents and great hearts.

Maybe it’s simply that they know what it’s like. When I need it most, it’s a writer who will listen a little more attentively, crack a joke that gets me laughing despite the knot in my gut, or who will tell me a story of her own struggle, to reassure me that I’m not alone.

It is my sincere hope that I am able to be to others, in the writing community, what they are to me. Because without them, I would be driving a truck and wishing, above all else, that one day I could write.