Blurred Line

Ever since I started writing on a consistent basis, way back in my early teens, I've been a part of some writing group or another. The first one, I remember, was an online group specific to SF&F that I was an active member of for a number of years. However, most of the people who posted were intellectual types and, at my age, a lot of what they were saying was going clear over my head. Later on I was part of another that wasn't specific to any genre and, as a result, had a massive amount of members. While it was a great community, not much in the way of improved writing came out of it. Instead, it felt a lot more like a support group, with members commiserating about rejections and filling their posts with happy-faced emoticons when someone else got an acceptance. By last year, the only place I visited on any regular basis was OWW, to lend a hand in critiquing (a place I highly recommend, by the way). However, a couple of months ago I let my membership expire, so now, for the first time, I'm a writer without a group.

And, frankly, it doesn't feel like much of a loss.

I've always maintained that it's important for any aspiring writer to put themselves in a situation where they can interact with other writers, and I stick to that statement. The only difference for me is that, thanks to blogging, all of the writer's groups I've been a part of have been replaced. When I click around to the latest posts of my favourite blogs for today, here's a selection of what I get: discussions on fanfic and copyright violation, discussion on the MacMillan New Writing initiative, an exploration of why one would write SF, some book recommendations from a published writer, a discussion on writer's depression upon finishing a novel, the crappiness of first drafts and, well....I could go on, but I think you get the idea. On top of all of this, I currently have the pleasure of critiquing the latest manuscript from Ali Al Saeed, who I met back in our BraveJournal days (you know, before he became a hot-shot, award-winning writer).

The point of this is that I couldn't imagine what my writing life would be like if I didn't have all of this constant literary stimulation. Being isolated, I think, would suck. And yet I've heard people who claim that participating in any sort of writing community is only something that hinders you from actually writing. Obviously, that's true to an extent, but there is a balance to be found.

So, my question to all is this: Provided you were cut off from all of this interaction regarding literature, how do you think your writing would be affected? Would it be improved, or would it suffer? Now, I understand you're all a biased bunch, being bloggers and all, but I seem to remember seeing a few people relinquish the role of blogger in favour of committing themselves to their writing for a time. I'm also curious, if you've ever had to do that, did you cut yourself off from reading blogs as well? Anyway, discuss.


Profile Editor. Writer. 9-5er. Lord of the Dance. Blurredline.com Apodis Publishing Fusion Fragment cterrill(at)blurredline.com Buy Goodbye, Darwin Amazon.com Amazon.ca Chapters.ca Barnes&Noble.com Read it free in PDF Format Buy Blurred Line Amazon.com Amazon.ca Chapters.ca Barnes&Noble.com Read it free in PDF Format The Short Stuff "Learning Magic From Mint" - published May 2007 in Atomjack "Between Eternities" - published October 2005 at Speculative.ca "Smoke and Mirrors" - published June 2005 in Byzarium Submissions Log Total Subs: 25 Acceptances: 3 Rejections: 17 Withdrawals: 3 Subs Out: 2 Quality Blogs Scalzi's Whatever Dave's Blogography Bookslut The Struggling Writer SF Signal the0phrastus Paperback Writer Scribe's Writing Desk Nathan Bransford Lyons Literary LLC The World in the Satin Bag Book In The Oven The Word Perhaps We Learned Something... Words, etc. Archives March 2005 April 2005 May 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006 January 2007 February 2007 March 2007 April 2007 May 2007 June 2007 July 2007 August 2007 September 2007 October 2007 November 2007 November 2008 December 2008 January 2009 February 2009 March 2009 Et Cetera Cavan @ Last.fm Cavan @ LibraryThing Feeds Atom Feed RSS Feed	Sunday, April 23, 2006 - On Writing and Isolation Ever since I started writing on a consistent basis, way back in my early teens, I've been a part of some writing group or another. The first one, I remember, was an online group specific to SF&F that I was an active member of for a number of years. However, most of the people who posted were intellectual types and, at my age, a lot of what they were saying was going clear over my head. Later on I was part of another that wasn't specific to any genre and, as a result, had a massive amount of members. While it was a great community, not much in the way of improved writing came out of it. Instead, it felt a lot more like a support group, with members commiserating about rejections and filling their posts with happy-faced emoticons when someone else got an acceptance. By last year, the only place I visited on any regular basis was OWW, to lend a hand in critiquing (a place I highly recommend, by the way). However, a couple of months ago I let my membership expire, so now, for the first time, I'm a writer without a group. And, frankly, it doesn't feel like much of a loss. I've always maintained that it's important for any aspiring writer to put themselves in a situation where they can interact with other writers, and I stick to that statement. The only difference for me is that, thanks to blogging, all of the writer's groups I've been a part of have been replaced. When I click around to the latest posts of my favourite blogs for today, here's a selection of what I get: discussions on fanfic and copyright violation, discussion on the MacMillan New Writing initiative, an exploration of why one would write SF, some book recommendations from a published writer, a discussion on writer's depression upon finishing a novel, the crappiness of first drafts and, well....I could go on, but I think you get the idea. On top of all of this, I currently have the pleasure of critiquing the latest manuscript from Ali Al Saeed, who I met back in our BraveJournal days (you know, before he became a hot-shot, award-winning writer). The point of this is that I couldn't imagine what my writing life would be like if I didn't have all of this constant literary stimulation. Being isolated, I think, would suck. And yet I've heard people who claim that participating in any sort of writing community is only something that hinders you from actually writing. Obviously, that's true to an extent, but there is a balance to be found. So, my question to all is this: Provided you were cut off from all of this interaction regarding literature, how do you think your writing would be affected? Would it be improved, or would it suffer? Now, I understand you're all a biased bunch, being bloggers and all, but I seem to remember seeing a few people relinquish the role of blogger in favour of committing themselves to their writing for a time. I'm also curious, if you've ever had to do that, did you cut yourself off from reading blogs as well? Anyway, discuss. Cavan blogged at 10:08 AM \| 1 comments	Progress Zilch! 0/0 Listening A.J. Croce - "Maybe I'm Amazed" My Music Reading Bright Lights, Big City - Jay McInerney My Library Watching Black Book: B Sweet and Lowdown: C Breakfast on Pluto: B Wishlist Bridge of Sighs - Richard Russo Rachael Yamagata - Elephants...Teeth Sinking Into Heart