Why Everyone Needs a Writing Buddy

You know how it is when someone asks what you do and, when you tell them, you get a variation on these answers:

"Have you written a novel yet?"
"How much money do you make?"
"I suppose you'll be writing your own Fifty Shades then."

That's people you don't know.

Your friends might ask a few polite questions such as, "So how's the writing going?" but if you answer more than, "Fine," you can see their eyes start to glaze over.

Of course I can't blame them. If I ask my husband how his day has been, I'm more interested in whether Nigel has seen the badger in his garden again or whether Tom has managed to sell his house yet than whether the new flow meter is working properly. I have to remember that not everyone is interested in writing in the same way that not everyone is interested in engineering.

This is why we all need a writing buddy. I'm not talking about someone who will share and critique your work (although many writing buddies like to do this) but someone who knows where you're coming from; who understands the joys of a sale or competition win along with the frustration of the rejection; who you can share writing news and information with you and talk about all those things that would bore other people silly.

I'm lucky in that I've got Tracy. We met first through our blogs and then in 'real life' a year ago for teacakes in our local café. We've met up every month since for writerly chat.

This morning we talked about our last month's writing goals and whether we've achieved them, the merits (or not) of writing holidays, writers on Facebook, competitions, loss of writing confidence, experiences of womags, merits (or not) of Scrivener, whether it's possible to write a novel without a plan......
 
We also set new targets for this month.

The two hours we spend in the café are invaluable... and the teacakes delicious!

I urge everyone to get themselves a writing buddy if they haven't already got one.