From Thea: One of my very favorite things about hosting a Writer Wednesday on my new blog is the chance to share wonderful people with you like my lovely friend Joelle Charbonneau! Thank you, Joelle, for visiting with us this week.
Joelle is offering a giveaway this week, and details follow at the end of her blog post.
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A writer’s favorite things…
Joelle Charbonneau
Everyone sing with me:
Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens. Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens….
Okay – enough singing. (Which is probably the first and only time you’ll hear me say that!) Technically this post isn’t about kittens or raindrops because while those are both really great, they aren’t really my favorite things. If I were creating a song about the things that me “the writer” can’t live without topping the list would be buttered (and salted) popcorn, Frosted Flakes, caffeine and friends.
Ten years ago, I was a reader. Writing my own books wasn’t even a blip on my radar. I was singing and acting on stage, teaching some acting and singing lessons and reading. Heck, come to think of it, back then I had never even met an author. Now I find it hard to believe since the majority of people I communicate with every day are authors. Including the lovely and talented and so incredibly supportive Thea Harrison!
Writing as a profession is an incredibly solitary experience. Lots of people are necessary to get a book from a word document on the screen to a book on the shelf. Agents, editors, copyeditors, sales teams, marketing folks, publishers, public relations gurus, typesetters, printers, cover artists, catalogue creators and countless others are all part of the process. And that doesn’t even cover the people who need to help get the book into readers’ hands like booksellers, librarians and bloggers. But before anyone can turn a manuscript into a book or get the book into the loving hands of readers, the book has to be created. The computer has to be turned on, a new document opened and the screen turned from a blank page into one filled with words.
Facing that blank page every day is wonderful and frightening because no one else can help you fill those pages. People can brainstorm with you and get you pot after pot of coffee, but the work of typing those pages belongs to the writer and the writer alone.
And it can feel lonely.
Which is where the fabulous writer friends like Thea come into play! The solitary writer experience never feels as lonely and the blank page as scary when you have friends on the other side of the phone, or on Twitter and Facebook. It’s wonderful to see other writers banging their heads against the proverbial wall or hitting The End of their manuscript because sharing their battles and their victories helps me know that I, too, will overcome the challenges I face.
And better yet – having writing friends is fun!
So, in this very public forum, I would like to thank my friends both readers and writers on the World Wide Web for their angst, their happiness and more than anything their kindness. You make being a writer a really wonderful thing to be.
To express my thanks, I’m giving away a copy of SKATING AROUND THE LAW to a commenter. I hope my heroine Rebecca Robbins and Elwood the ex-circus camel gives the winner some laughs and a lot of smiles.
**Giveaway ends at 12 noon MDT on Friday, April 20th!**
Thea: Thank you for having Joelle on your blog today!
Joelle: I thoroughly enjoyed reading your post. Writing can definitely be a solitary process, especially during those weeks of drafting and first-pass editing. If it weren’t for the writing friends I’ve made via Twitter, FB and blogging, I might still be banging my head against that wall. I LOVE knowing we are *not* alone! 🙂
I would LOVE a free copy of SKATING AROUND THE LAW.
This is so very true. I love interacting with others on the arduous journey of authorship; we help each other along, through good times and bad.
Would love to win a copy of this book – anytime the description of an ex-circus camel is listed in there it definitely grabs the attention, and bears a closer look. Sounds like a fun and interesting story.
I think that most solitary people need the outlet that friends provide. The internet has been both a cause and effect here. Facilitating a more solitary existence, and becoming a boon to hermit society by allowing relationships to flourish through different formats.
I am pleased to live in an age where this technology allows the movement of ideas, and the inter-connectivity of people. Where I can get to know the voices behind my favorite books, and understand a bit more what goes into writing them.
Thank you Ms. Charbonneau for sharing some of yourself with us, ans Ms. Harrison for giving us these glimpses into the minds of your friends and colleagues.
Nice post. The book sounds very interesting.
Great post! 🙂
I can only imagine how lonely it must feel sometimes! As a reader to read about the authors I read, how they also struggles with a regular life on the side with kids, pets – and of course their work, makes them very real and vivid to me. As a reader it can sometimes be to easy to forget that a real person has written what you read, that there are feelings, tears, blood and sweat behind the pages we enjoy.
The book sounds awesome, the winner will be lucky!! 🙂
Have a great, great day!! 🙂
Terrific post, Joelle! And I couldn’t agree with it more. You, of course, are one of those wonderful friends to many of us writers. May you continue to reign as the queen of song and high expectations!
your post is very encouraging to guys like me who is naive to the field of writing. Well keep posting such nice articles.