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I’m sitting in my home office and staring at this blank white digital screen. I’ve got Taylor Swift’s saddest song (for now) off her Tortured Poets Department album playing in the background: “Love of My Life.”
I type and stop. Type and stop. The birds are chirping mighty loudly outside my window. There’s some crumbs on my desk. I should probably clean those up. Type. Stop. Type. Stop. I can hear my dryer singing to me; I should probably unload that load of dry clothes and fold them and put them away.
There are so many distractions when I know that I need to focus and write. Write my daily blog post. Write and revise my newest short story. Write and revise my novel.
What’s even harder than distractions, is the loneliness. In my previous corporate life, I could just turn around and ask a colleague a question (or answer a question). I could bounce an idea off of them. I could hear a joke that made me belly laugh and turned around a bad mood instantly. I could take a real break and sit outside with a diet soda and chat about upcoming weekend plans. I could ask someone for their honest feedback on a letter draft.
But freelancing and writing can be quite lonely. I have calls and email communications with clients, and I enjoy those intermittent interactions. But I crave feedback, and that is especially important for my writing.
My first drafts are written for me. I have a story and ideas in my mind that I want to capture on the page. But once that draft is out, I need feedback to see if I’m being myopic and missing the forest for the trees. Do I have a gaping plot hole? I know that there are professional editors out there, but my book isn’t yet at that stage.
I had started to take community college classes in writing, but many of those are still Zoom-based, so the connection and feedback wasn’t quite what I was looking for.
I’m lucky in some ways. My husband is a wonderful first reader. He’s an intelligent reader, and he is open and honest with his feedback.
I have also been meeting virtually with a fellow editor and writer friend. She has been an absolute godsend. As an editor, she is knowledgeable about writing structure, tropes, and grammar. She is also someone who encourages me to keep going. Having her support as a writer has been a game-changer.
I hadn’t realized that what I was missing was this type of writing companion. There will be other layers of edits and more eyes on my book as I get it ready to submit into the publishing maelstrom, but this writing friend and my husband’s support have helped to make this writing journey be a lot less lonely for me.
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