Support Systems

This week I talked to several people about my writing journey. This fact isn't new or even really news, except for the first time in a long time, if ever, I took some serious ownership of my craft and crafting processes and being willing to accept whatever fruits are born from it. It was refreshing, and harkens back, actually, to my last post about not every book being for every reader. I want to support myself off my writing, and I owe my parents another "five-year plan" that I don't have other than "writing!", but to know I'll have support even if I never make it humongous is awesome. I have friends who promote me on their Web sites, who send me links to media outlets looking for something I could possibly offer. I people who work with me and ask me what my next project is and how my writing's going. I have people in libraries who actively inform their patrons about "underground" authors such as myself and others. It's amazing and wonderful, and so completely not how I thought this career path would go. I'd always thought writing was a solitary endeavor, alone and without collaboration and corroboration. Maybe it used to be, but it cannot be that way now. I'm grateful for everyone and to everyone who's decided to take the journey along with me--even just a question of how it's going is encouraging for a writer, even if the writer is a little frustrated with the "when's the next one coming?" because the writer doesn't know! But the minute folks stop asking is the minute the writer knows she's in trouble. So, keep asking, keep pestering, even if I huff and roll my eyes a bit. I need each and every prod. It keeps me honest and humble to know I have folks who are rooting for me.