Just posted this over on the SheWrites blog, in answer to founder Deborah Siegel’s call to writers asking, ‘what did you learn about writing last year?’ Thought I’d re-post here, too.
Teaching improves my writing. Between teaching English Comp courses at a local community college and teaching memoir online, I didn’t have as much dedicated writing-time as I’d hoped for, but when my fingers and brain did find the page, all those hours of editing other peoples’ work brought a certain focused consciousness to my own.
Writing does not have to be solitary act. For the first time in my life, I’m writing with a partner, which I never thought was possible—and having a blast!
Writers need support. I knew this, but came to the painful realization once again after relocating 3 times in 2009, far away from a great arts community in North Carolina and the beautiful literary circles I enjoyed in Los Angeles. I need a physical community. Inspired by this, I have plans for starting a writers’ salon in DC, too. (Still scouting locations! DC people, holla!)
Facebook is my friend. Online social networks have allowed me to share my work with far-away friends, offer support to fellow writers, and to do informal polls with a wide range of people when researching articles.
Don’t believe the hype. Not every form of technology works for everyone. I’ve found I am not a good blog-everyday-type-of-blogger, and I deleted my Twitter account because the whole thing felt like an incestuous waste of time. More pages, less updates for me this year.
Thanks for sharing! I love reading insight from other writer’s lives!