Hi, My Name is Tere, and I'm a Writer

There, I said it. Funny how much that admission sounds like the start of a support group meeting. But ya know, after yesterday's post, and all the supportive comments from y'all, I realized that this online writing community we have here IS my writing support group.

Whether it's Abby Annis sending me a much needed ego boost, or Susan Mills telling me it can be okay to edit as you go, it's a nice change to be surrounding myself with such supportive, positive people. People who understand what's going on in my writing life. My husband and friends are as supportive as they can be, but they don't exactly understand the compulsion to write, or what it takes to persevere through rejection letter after rejection letter without giving up or kicking your laptop down a flight of stairs. Or what it's like to feel more at home in a made up world than in the real one.

You may not know this about me, but I'm an introvert. It's hard for me to make friends, and even harder to feel like a part of a group. For a lot of reasons-- enough reasons to fill an emotional portmanteau. Yes, I have baggage. But I'm working on it. I have to admit I can be a very bad friend sometimes because of this, and I'm ashamed to admit that in the past I've used my writing as an excuse to be a bad friend.

Over the past few months I've realized that being a part of this online writing community has filled a hole inside me I didn't even know was there. And I've regained a confidence that I thought I'd lost, which is one of the reasons I'm joining Choir. I need more creative outlets than just writing and blogging. I need to get over my fear of rejection-- not rejection from agents, but from potential friends and peers.

I'd almost rather people sent rejection letters. They're usually quick and to the point-- nothing personal, right? It's easier for me to deal with rejection in print, anyway. (Of course, we'd still scour form rejections for some kind of subjective reason we were rejected. ;D ) In fact, most things are easier for me to type than to say, ergo it takes much less effort to make friends online. Probably because I felt that books made better friends than people when I was a child. Books probably were my first friends. Maybe that's another reason I feel so much more at ease around my fellow writers: they're friends of old friends. I take heart knowing that there are so many people on the planet experiencing the same exhilaration, pride, and nervous nail-biting that I experience on my writerly journey.

So I want to dedicate this post to you all, my fellow writers, who have not only helped me become a better novelist, but also a better person.

Thanks y'all!

And don't worry, I'm not going all mushy on you. Tune in tomorrow for your regularly scheduled diatribe on something asinine. See ya then!