It takes a community to write and publish a book

Which goes against everything I’d imagined about being a writer. My first gig as a technical writer, I worked alone. Terrified I would do it all wrong, I overachieved. That became my modus operandi until I was hired to work as a member of a team. Talk about having your brain put in a blender and liquefied! I had to learn new work habits, learn to trust the work of others. It was awesome. 

Fast forward to my life as a fiction writer. Again, I imagined the lonely writer, hunched over her keyboard, toiling away on a masterpiece that would be revealed to the world only when it was done. LOL. Attending my first writing conference was like putting my brain back in the blender. Wait . . . what? I’m supposed to have critique partners? What are beta readers? There are classes on how to structure stories? 

Now I’m a member of several critique groups, where I hear what works and what doesn’t in my writing and provide that feedback for others. I  also belong to an online writing community (The Habit), where we support and encourage each other. True, I sit down at my computer every morning by myself. But I’m surrounded by a virtual community of writers. It’s awesome.

And when I published my debut novel, Call of the Desert: Crossing, I called upon that community to help. The publishing support group at The Habit gave me courage. Kori Frazier Morgan of Inkling Creative Services did a phenomenal job with the editing, and Xavier Comas and his team (including Aurora Iraita) produced an amazing cover. I’ve also been using art from their initial concepts in my website and social media posts. 

Isn’t it awesome that we don’t have to do this alone?