- Fellowship of other writers
This is number one on my list. Whenever I go the meeting room at the Old Y, it’s like being folded up in a big cozy quilt. No one thinks you’re strange because you talk to yourself, because your life is populated by non-existent people, or because you’ve got notes about these non-existent people dripping out of every notebook in your house. Fellowship is about a place where you can go to plug in, a place where these good people will take you aside and whisper gently in your ear if your modifier is misplaced or if your participle is dangling, a place where we are all connected…and not just grammatically but by our heartstrings too.
- Support system
We all are on the same, crowded path: We are our own tribe. We have the understanding to reach out for those who need a hand, who maybe need a bit of coaching or reassurance. We have a group of people who will cheer for your successes and give you a hug to comfort your disappointments. We can reach for the same goals without it becoming competitive; we can share our successes and failures and feel safe and secure while doing it.
- Information
ARWA has this huge well of information: information on publishing; information on how to reach an editor or agent; information on publishing houses and who is buying what; information on the happenings in the industry and what the newest trends are. A writing group is the best resource any writer can have.
- Education
For me, “education” is about the craft. We learn from others about how to improve, how to make us better and stronger writers. We do it in workshops; we do it with our website; we do it with our library; we do it with our newsletter. And we do it with sharing what we have figured out, and by listening to others who have done the same.
- Friendship
What can you say about friendships that evolve out of a common dream? There is a special kinship. We might not know what Ms A does for a living or how many kids she has, but we know that she has writing in her soul. And that she’s going to understand more about me as a creative individual than anyone else.
- Inspiration
Inspiration happens at every turn. Just plugging into that whole cosmos of creativity energizes you. Inspiration happens when you need help at a round table, and someone comes up with the perfect solution. Someone says “what if…” and someone else says “or what if this …” and suddenly big flat boulders pop up, and you have a clear way out of the bog.
- Motivation
Every time one of the tribe finishes a book, every time someone starts a new one, and every time a member gets asked for a completed manuscript, it motivates us all. We want to move forward. We want that same success to be ours.
- Roadside Assistance
Being surrounded by all that creative energy keeps my gas tank full. And if something awful should happen, and the wheels fall off, or you have a major wreck, you know that a dozen people will be there to pick you up and get you on your way. Brainstorming problems, giving you the perfect turning point in your story, helping your to create a believable background for your characters—you can find all of these at one big, friendly filling station.
- Help Line
You don’t know what a clause in your very first contract really means, or you don’t understand what an editor is getting at in a rejection letter—well, there’s always help at the end of the telephone line or at the other end of an email.
- Resources
The list of resources is endless. You need someone to do a copy edit on your manuscript; you need to research some piece of information or history for your book; you need to find out some critical information about query letters or synopses? All you have to do is put out the question, and someone will have the answer you need. We have a library full of resources, and a website stacked with information.
- Validation
Every time I walk into the Old Y, every time I’m in a room of ARWA members, I feel validated as a writer. It doesn’t matter than I haven’t written a book in 4 years. Within that group, we are all writers, published or not. And that is the most important inspiration of all.
- First Aid Station
Writing is a solitary occupation, and it can be very lonely and despairing at 3 o’clock in the morning when you suddenly discover than everything you’ve written is crap, and you’re sure you cannot do this—and whatever possessed you to think you could? I could do a whole workshop on that kind of despair. But then you go for coffee with some writer friends, members of your tribe, and some one will start CPR, and someone else will put a splint on your broken spirit, and someone else will apply a tourniquet to stop the massive hemorrhaging confidence. Together, they save your creative life.
