Monday
May092011
ARC Contest Winner and Thoughts on Community
Monday, May 9, 2011 I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day weekend--and survived the extreme heat if you're a fellow Texan like me. Man, it's getting to be brutal out there!
Today is the day we announce the WINNER of the ARC Contest for Elana Johnson's POSSESSION, which ended on Sunday. I want to thank everyone for dropping in, retweeting, posting, and following this past week. It was so much fun to meet new blog world friends. I always follow back, so it was a pleasure to discover so many new blogs :-)
Thanks to RANDOM.ORG, we have ourselves a winner . . . (Drum roll please) . . .
Congrats LindsayCWrites over at Lindsay Writes . . . !!
Lindsay, I'll have the book in the mail this afternoon, so be on the look out!
An interesting tidbit is that I happened to have met Lindsay once before at a writer's conference we both attended a few months ago. We only talked briefly at the cocktail party, but when I matched the name to the number RANDOM.ORG spit out it sounded familiar, and then I spotted the fellow Texan address.
Lindsay, according to her bio and my fuzzy recollection (I was in a haze of starry-eyed agent excitement at the time) is a 19-year-old-writer who is very active in the writing community. She is out there networking, making connections and contacts, and attending conferences. That impresses me so much. She knows what she wants and she is out there making it happen.
That leads me to the second portion of today's post, my thoughts on Community.
No, not the show, although I love that, too! (When is Jeff gonna realize how awesome Annie is??)
I mean, the Writing Community.
Querytracker, Twitter, Facebook, other blogs, forums, conferences, organizations . . . thanks to technology, the opportunity to make a connection with other writers out there is almost effortless. Writers love to support one another. It is through groups like these that I have met all of my critique partners, almost all of whom I've never actually seen face-to-face.
I met my fellow @KappaDeltaWrite chicas on Twitter (and all these ladies rock so hard, I'm BLESSED to have them in my corner). My YA Sisters and Brothers in the YA Sisterhood meet over at Facebook, but I first met the Wonder Twins who started it all on Twitter, and we often chat there, too(#YASB). And, thanks to Kristen Lamb's new #MyWana hashtag on Twitter, I'm meeting even more.
Querytracker introduced me to many wonderfully talented friends--in particular, the lovely Anita Howard. And locally I belong to a writers group for Houston YA/MG Writers that not only has given me many 'in real life' friendships, but mentors as well.
Why am I rambling here?
The point is that we all need community. Writing can be so lonely--staring at a screen and a box all day, getting carpal tunnel and a stiff neck. We create imaginary friends every day and most of us talk to them. We need social interaction with others, and who better to understand our madness then a fellow writer? Who better to lift us up when we are discouraged and our minds are mush, or cheer us on when we meet our goals and/or get agent requests?
I guess what I'm trying to say . . . not very succinctly . . . is that all of YOU in the writing community at large have blessed me. I hope I've been able to be a blessing to others as well.
If you're reading this and are hesitant about jumping in with any of the places I mentioned, contact me. I'd love to talk with you about this crazy roller coaster and point you in some great directions. Don't be afraid to reach out. The rewards are priceless :-)
Question 4 U: What are your favorite Community Building resources?
Let us know about your experiences in the comments! If you'd like to guest post about a particularly great networking or community building experience, contact me at RachelHarris1 at Gmail dot com.
Happy Monday Everyone!
Reader Comments (20)
You know, you're right. Twitter and Facebook have been the root of many of my writer friendships. But also, blogs. I have come across blogs of people whose personality just shines through so much that I have actually just contacted them through their blog and we became friends that way.
As writers, though, we are truly blessed to write in the age of the internet. With just one click, a reader can recommend us to their entire friend-base. That's pretty awesome networking!
Courtney--Blogs are definitely fun places to make friendships. You're right, you get a great sense of someone's personality and interests from what they share with the world. :-)
And the ability for a reader to recommend us to all their friends so quickly and easily is mind boggling. It's also sobering, knowing that we have to be ever aware of our online presence and the image we exude.
Thanks girl!
Blogger, twitter, and of course, QT. :) Such a great post, Rachel.
Hey Anita girl--I am thankful for QT if for nothing else, introducing me to you :-)
Anita does a great weekly feature on her blog (linked above-click on her name) with fellow Query Tracker success stories! All the agent's comments sections on QT went nuts when Anita was juggling all her agent offers!
I've been overwhelmed with helpfulness and friendliness of the writing community. I talk with fellow writers on Twitter, FB, blogs, YA Sisterhood. I'm also a long-distance member of the West Houston RWA and Houston YA/MG, which is where I met Rachel.
This is a crazy industry and we need community. I also encourage people to think outside the box. I do not write romance but I've found a great resource in RWA.
Great topic Rachel!
Natalie
Natalie--You are SO right about thinking outside the box. I know I thought RWA was just for the red covered paperback authors when I first heard of them, but wow was I wrong! Great group of people, and they have a YA section. And pretty much all YA books have a romance of some kind nowadays :-)
Great point, thanks girl!
I agree with Rachel that writers' communities are so important, especially ones independent of critique circles. Having been apart of many CCs & workshops, I had no idea what I was missing until I joined the YA Sister (and Brother) hood on FB. Great, great place full of warm & welcoming souls!
Community is so very important. My favorite community is twitter & facebook. I've met many writers online, even my new critique partner! I love the FB groups because we have other writers at our immediate disposal for options, and encouragement. It's Fabulous!
Tamara--You're right in that just having a fellowship with other writers, seperate from the more formal CC relationship, is so beneficial. . . and fun!
Tiffany--Having other writers at our immediate disposal is fabulous . . . and addictive!! I have to force myself to close down the page every once in awhile or I will be constantly commenting :-)
Thanks Ladies!! You ROCK!
Let me write you an illustration.
A year or so ago I was standing outside of a door. The door was twice my size and it was the darkest crimson I'd ever seen. On the other side of that door, was a man waiting for me. Let's call it a job interview. I wasn't dressed for one though, no. I had my favorite ball cap on, tilted slightly to the left. I had my go-to black button-up on, sleeves rolled up. My tattoos were exposed. But I was ready. I breathed slowly and said under my breath: "Tymothy, you sure 'bout this?"
Then I walked in. The guy sitting at the desk just looked at me. He was smiling. His told me to have a seat. I did.
"Nice cap," I told him.
You too," he said.
So...you know why you're here, right dude?"
I nodded.
You're to hear to ask yourself if you can do this. Well, Tymothy. You sure about this?" he asked.
I took a deep breath and nodded again.
He looked at me, nodded in return and said, "Well. Get to it."
Since then, since asking myself if I could BE a Writer, I have become one.
Chapter Two.
Facebook was the launch for my Twitter presence. On Facebook, I made some great connections. Amojng them was Megan Bostic, the Author of the upcoming book, "Never 18". She was the first example of "selfless" writer.
Diane Graham is another, great aspiring to be published writer. She is a great Friend and it is because of her that I am a Contributing Writer at The New Authors Fellowship. A blog made of Christian writers, yet unpublished.
Then I met @ifollowthenight. I don't even know her real name. But I think it's better that way.
She is the one who asked if I "was on Twitter". A great place to meet and network with awesome writers.
Thing is I WAS on Twitter, technically, but my account was gathering dust and tumbleweeds. My first @ was PrevailUpon.
On ifollows advice I went back, changed my handle to my name and the rest is literally history.
I've met so many great, talented, awesome epic people.
People like Paul Joseph, Dawn Kirby, Shelly "ShellShell" Picarella, Michelle Shaw. Tiffany Cole.
They deserve success if anyone does.
@EnamoredSoul whose support is unwaivering.
The Indies: Megg Jensen, G.P. Ching. KarlyKirkpatrick. Mia Castile.
My BestNerdFriendsForever, Christin Mowery, Nicholas, Denmon, Thomas Amo.
Then came The YA Sisterhood. Amy Rose, Demetra, Leah, Tamara, Jamie.
I am overwhelmed at all the love, mutual respect, help, tweetes, retweets, retweets of retweets...lol.
It's all good. I love it.
Honestly those are my favorite connection makers.
Write on, Rachel. You are in my Writers Heart.
Tymothy-- Dude, what a comment :-) You said in your tweet 'I asked for it,' which made me nervous. But this ROCKED!!!
Thanks for such a great comment, filled with your personal example of how the writing community at large has both embraced and touched you. You are making waves of blessing yourself, my 'brother.'
Hugs and Writerly Love!!
Amen! Great blog and you are so right. That's why I created #MyWANA...to make it easier to connect and support each other. Building platforms is tough and doing it alone is next to impossible.
Thanks for being part of my Twibe and kudos for getting the word out!
Hugs,
Kristen
Kristen--You so rock :-) Thanks for stopping by . . . and for creating #MyWANA--I'm making lots of new friends over there.
Building a platform is tough, and surrounding yourself with other writers in the trenches with you makes all the difference!
Glad to be a part of your Twibe :-)
What Tymothy said.
*Big Smiles!* I love the writer community that I accidentally stumbled into on Twitter and Goodreads. Very, very blessed to be a part of it!
Hey Sammie! (Waves) I totally forgot to mention Good Reads--thanks for covering my slack! There is a great group over there-Chirenjenzie--that is full of encouragement and mucho talented writers.
I got to know Sammie on Twitter and she's a sweetheart. More of that community jazz :-)
I feel blessed too! I love blogging and Twitter. I've met some amazing people. :)
There are so many great one, but it's hard to find time for them all. I used to be on Absolute Write a lot but I haven't been on it for a while. Not enough time.
Hi Rachel,
Thanks again for following my blog. There's a little something there for you. I hope you likey!!! http://lormandela.blogspot.com/2011/05/thanks-jen.html I'm looking forward to your comments tweets and posts!!!