Writing Doesn’t Have to be Lonely
TB here to talk about writing.
Writing can be a lonely job. For hours every day, I lock myself up in my office, to bash out words. It’s just me and my computer. Grey, my cat, occasionally pops into my space, but she isn’t exactly an exceptional conversationalist. She does, though, have a knack for sprawling out in front of my keyboard, demanding attention.
This isn’t the type of interaction I miss from my office days. While I never really liked any of my other jobs, I did enjoy spending time with coworkers. Catching up during lunch breaks, chitchat while refreshing my tea, and simple shop talk. Human connection, even for introverts, has wonderful benefits.
Writing doesn’t have to be a solitary job.
I’m doing NaNoWriMo this November. If you’re unfamiliar with NaNo, click here to read more about it.
I’ve attempted NaNo in the past, but never quite succeeded in reaching 50,000 words. This year, I’m going to try really hard to reach that goal and I’m feeling slightly more confident than normal because I have an ace in my back pocket.
You see, I’m not doing it alone this year. I don’t mean I’m co-writing a book. I’ll be writing at the same time with a group of authors.
This is how it’s going to work. Adrian J. Smith will be hosting NaNoWriMo writing sprints on Zoom. Every Monday through Friday, the Zoom sprints will be 7:30-9:30am (EST). Saturdays will be 7:30-10:30am (EST). You don’t have to attend them all, or stay for the entire time. If you can only do an hour, or you’re only available on Tuesdays, that’s fine. The Zoom links are in the I Heart SapphFic Author Facebook Group, which you can join here.
I’ve joined a few of Adrian’s regularly scheduled Zoom Sprints on Wednesday nights, and there fun. We start off chatting, while everyone gets logged in. We do a 25-minute sprint. Chat some more. And repeat. They’re informal and fun.
What I love most about these sprints is the sense of community and chance to network. It’s nice to be able to talk about writing with people who truly understand. It’s not all writing talk, though, which is fantastic. It’s good to have friends and I’ve made some new ones via the Zoom sprints.
Just the other day, I received a text message from Adrian that the sprint group wanted me to sneak in a garlic-cheese breath kiss into an upcoming manuscript and not warn Miranda (we cowrite a lot together) that I did and let her come across scene on her own and wonder what the heck had gotten into me.
It made me laugh, but it also made me smile, because having a community is a necessary ingredient to succeeding in this business.
It’s not only success on the writing front. Building a community helps when you’re ready to launch a book or when marketing any of your work. Launches and marketing always go better when it’s not just you screaming about your book.
Every author needs a community, and that’s one of the main reasons I started I Heart SapphFic. To bring authors and readers together so all of us can support each other.
If you’ve always wanted to try NaNoWriMo but were intimidated by the process, think about joining the sprints. Not only will Adrian be there, but Miranda and I will be attending most of the sprints too.
Let’s NaNo together and, more importantly, support each other and make writing less lonely.
More About TB:
TB Markinson is an American who’s recently returned to the US after a seven-year stint in the UK and Ireland. When she isn’t writing, she’s traveling the world, watching sports on the telly, visiting pubs in New England, or reading. Not necessarily in that order.
Her novels have hit Amazon bestseller lists for lesbian fiction and lesbian romance. The AM Show, co-written with Miranda MacLeod, won a Goldie in 2022.
She cohosts the Lesbians Who Write Podcast (lesbianswhowrite.com) with Clare Lydon. TB is also the founder of I Heart SapphFic.
