Jim Hines’ Annual Fundraiser

Jim Hines is holding his annual fund raiser for rape crisis centers. You want to get in on the action.

Support rape crisis centers and enter to win an advance copy of The Snow Queen’s Shadow, by Jim C. Hines.

Mirrored from Writer Tamago.

What I Wish I’d Known as a New Writer: All the Good Writers

Disclaimer: This isn't meant to be egotistical.

I decided to dedicate myself to writing seriously in 2007 when I had some unsolicited attention in my work based on the strength of a reading. (This would later result in, among other things, my book deal with Cats Curious.) I figured if more people than my mom thought I was a good writer, I should be getting serious about my efforts. AND I had nibbles. I'm that person an agent asks to send a few chapters, and then decides, you know, it was good writing, but it's not for me. Yup. Me and 200,000,000 other writers. I had some idea that my writing was good, and it wasn't just me and my immediate circle who thought so.

Hence, frustration. If I *was* a good writer, why wasn't the whole publication thing going down?

Viable Paradise provided me with my first clue. Everyone there was a pretty darned good writer. We were, we were told, the top percent of the slush pile. It dawned on me that becoming a writer was a lot like going to Iowa State.

When I was a kid, I grew up in teeny Murray Iowa. There were 700 people there. When college recruiters asked if I was in the top 5 percent of my class, I joked that I was the top 5 percent of my class.

Getting to Iowa State, a campus where there were 26,000 students? Was I intimidated? No. It was wonderful! I met so many creative, intellectual, fantastic people, many of whom could be reading this journal right now, one of whom I had to take home with me and marry. I thrived and blossomed at Iowa State with people who were like me, and yeah, I'd do that again.

So...suddenly I began to conceive of writing as a communal activity. I had already been hanging out on the Internet and discovering that published writers were generous with their time and advice. I was also meeting people who were doing what I was: good writers producing work trying to get published. Writing became not this thing I did competitively with others, but gradually it become an activity I shared with others who were doing it for a variety of reasons as well.

I like being part of a group of writers. We support each others success, critique, encourage, and succor. It's a lot less lonely. I also understand that this isn't a zero sum game. This is more about people who have the same goal working in the same direction. I also understand that since there's a lot of good writers, you have to do something much better than you would do as a good writer to stand out. It's like hanging out with your college buddies all over again. I will be gratified when we are all doing what we enjoy at the level we want to get to, or at least if we're working toward that.

Next: Perfect Practice Makes Perfect, or treating your writer education like college, in spite of writer ego.

Mirrored from Writer Tamago.