Leaning with other writers

Recently I had the opportunity to take part in an authors' forum on twitter. A new experience, I found it a little chaotic, but enormously helpful. I suppose there were nine or ten of us on together, and the questions and answers were flying faster than most of us could keep up with. Topics changed from character description to how to make a book trailer and everything in between.

What I found most interesting proved to be how open everyone was about how to do things. Because I haven't really had any long term exchange with other novelists, I found it truly gratifying to see how supportive everyone was. Although I attend a wonderful writers' critique group, I have only recently had another novelist join the group on any consistent basis. People really do need a sense of community to provide a sense of camaraderie, or possibly it just helps to know you aren't the only person who  doesn't already know how to put together a trailer or write up a press release.

As I push through the dozen new tasks I'm trying to master, I think the most important thing I've learned is to lean on others just a little more. I've never been good at depending on others, but I figure there's no time like the present.