I always thought it would be good to have writer friends, but as writing is a (mostly) solitary pursuit, and as we tend to be introverts, finding other writers, especially those whose opinions I could trust, seemed like a fruitless and futile pursuit.  This is not meant to be a slight, by any means, but a testament to my own shortcomings of maintaining relationships (even with those I already consider my friends).  So trying to find new ones with specific traits, well, felt like it might be a challenge.

I have many acquaintances – those people you meet through work who become your Facebook friends even long after you’ve changed jobs, who you’ve never seen again, probably never will, and might not even recognize years later…you know the ones, we all have ’em.

But, building a circle, that’s a different type of beast to tame.  When I was living in Arizona, I was fortunate enough to meet a unique person, a fellow geek, who included me and my sister in his circle.  It was one of those inspired moments, when you realize you’ve met a kindred spirit.  Unfortunately, we moved away.  His wife and I maintain our friendship via Facebook through our mutual love of all things Whedon, Cumberbatch, and other geek related passions.  So that’s good for me when I want to geek out, which is all the time, but they aren’t writers.

Making “real” friends gets a bit more difficult with age.  For those of you too young to have learned this yet, you will.  It’s a sad truth.  By the time we’re a certain age, we have the friends we’re probably going to have the rest of our lives, and making new ones, regardless of similar tastes and interests is time consuming, and takes effort.  By this stage in our lives, we don’t like to waste time and effort.  So I was finding it difficult wanting to pursue new relationships regardless of its value.

When we moved to Los Angeles, where we really knew no one, I made a whole new group of acquaintances, none of whom were writers, which I sort of found surprising, as this is the land of “aspirings”, so I was at a loss.  Where were they hiding?  As I continued forward with my writing, and very often struggling, I realized I didn’t have many life lines.  Only other writers can understand the daily struggles, the process, the moments of enlightenment, and offer one another insight or a life jacket.  So I had to make writer friends.

As part of my New Year’s Resolutions, I joined a few writer’s groups via Meetup, and after some time, finally did make a couple of writer friends; one of which helped me yesterday brainstorm some ideas for the rewrite.  Then, the biggest light bulb went on.  As I’ve continued my blog, and begun to learn the value of such a world, I’ve realized that I have an entire community of writers at my fingertips.  As we reach out, comment, and build relationships here, we are building our own circle.

So I would like to offer my blog as a part of the circle I’d like to create.  Fellow writers, let’s help one another succeed.  If you have questions, would like to offer advice, please feel free to do so here.

Wishing you all the best!

xx, Rach