Loneliness in Writing

Writing is not a team sport. It isn’t a band, where a group of assumed friends meet in loosely defined spaces and practice. There is none of that in the physical act of writing—that is not to say that writers’ groups, a practice of meeting with like-minded individuals to share and critique your work, do not exist or is not incredibly important. It is important. But it isn’t the act of writing, and that is what I am speaking of…

What I am arguing for here is a reality check. This business is lonely. A famous, now dead (the famous ones always are) once said, “If it doesn’t come shooting out of you like a bottle rocket don’t do it” and I have trouble refuting that to this day. And I understand the metaphor may fall deaf on some individuals so allow me to elaborate. The sentiment argues that the well for the desire to write must be deep for you (as the writer) will be constantly drawing from that water without anyone telling you to. Writing, when looked at outside of the hobbyist mindset (hobbyist writers please do not heed my druthers) I speak only to those who have ever held a book in hand and wanted their name inscribed there on the cover. And that want grew (or festered) into a NEED. You, Skeptic Reader, are who I address here directly.

The road to any measurable amount of success in small press publications is shaken earth. With few hands to guide your course.