Do you know what really makes me excited and passionate and so eager to take action I can barely sit still? (Get your mind out of the gutter. I mean passion as in things you are passionate about not passion as in a Lifetime Movie of the Week.) Talking to other writers. It doesn’t have to always be about writing, but it does go there. There is a secret code, or glimmer in their eye or simply the love of words that makes it like meeting a kindred spirit.
I had the most incredible meeting with another writer on Friday. We met at a Starbucks. (Of course! I am not messin’ with you when I say I need my coffee.) I grabbed the prime corner, comfy chair set up. I was nervous when I first saw her because she is adorable and petite and young and did I mention adorable? I thought for sure she would take one look at me and think “Frumpy, dumpy Mom. This will be quick. The woman probably has no brain.”
And then we began to talk. Our short meeting lasted a little over two hours. And still, I would have sat there two more hours because I enjoyed talking to her so very much! I think she got me. She could have been faking it, but she seemed to get me. We “people watched.” Both of us had that writer mind where you see people and they are not just people having coffee. Oh no! Those two over there? Totally on a date. (We were right!) That guy over there? He’s bored and wishing he could be reading something more interesting than the business work he brought because the person he is meeting is over 30 minutes late. And that woman over there? Total Stepford. (All the way!) I mean, we could’ve had the entire life story of every person in there complete with back history of how they got there if we kept at it.
She got it.
And did I mention she was adorable and got hit on. By a very interesting older gentleman. By older, I mean grandfather or great-grandfather older. She handled it with ease and charm. *crush*
Just talking to her (and of course asking for writing leads) fueled my writing passion. I wanted to be better, do more, set the world on fire. Not because of the things we talked about as much as I loved sitting there with a career writer and being called and calling myself a writer. I immediately wanted to get more clips, do more promotion, finish my big writerly project that I have underway (or at least kick it into high gear!). In short, I wanted to be the writer she saw.
So, to you, my new found friend, thank you. And if you ever call me a PM again, it is SO ON!
Writing is not just a passion for me – it is life – it is a compulsion – God wants me to write and publish but jeez, the problems with learning how to use software, building a website and then publishing the final book/CD/DVD. I feel like i have spent the last 15 years learning how to use the technology to publish my thoughts. I look at Stephen Spielberg and Woody Allen and say to myself, “I can do that.” But getting the funds to hire the staff and build the infrastructure is one long slooow process. But i am getting there. My first book is to be published soon. A recipe book, ‘Learn how to coook the way grandma did’. Ring bound and eBook. And then i have to work out how to sell it through eBay, Amazon, etc. Getting there with determination and perseverance. See my diary if you like: http://www.rejoiceinlife.com/rss/abbyeagle_blog.xml Kind regards, Abby
I love reading about writers, talking about them and TO them. I agree with you. It’s very energizing.
I’m a former print journalist, currently employed writer and soon to be freelance writer, and I can’t wait to get back to my freelance work. I miss my fun writing (which is why I recently started my blog — by the way, thanks for posting a comment for me.
Michelle (new mom old mom)
This reminds me of the time I met with a local writer who was featured in the news and she turned out to be a nurse from my pediatrician’s office. We had a great time relating as writers!