Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Business Plan Part 4 - Support System

Currently reading - Amazon Queen by Lori Devoti

One thing that'll get you through the recalcitrant characters, stubborn plots, and rejections (besides chocolate) will be your writing support system.

Ideally, our best support system would be our families and loved ones, but let's face facts. Unless family members, spouses, etc. are in the arts world, they'll probably think you're nuts.

DH was the bassist in a rock band for years, so he understands my writing pecadillos to some extent. On the other hand, his by-the-book oldest sister and brother-in-law gave our niece hell about wanting a degree in graphic arts and design. To the extent they threatened to cut her off monetarily if she didn't change her degree to business.

My heart broke when I heard this because my niece (let's call her Elphaba after the heroine in our favorite Broadway musical) is a fabulous artist. Fabulous enough that I want her to do something original for my website (when I can finally put one together). Fabulous enough I'd pitch her as my cover artist to my publisher.

Just like Elphaba, your family may try to sabotage your writing career for your own good. Or because they feel short-changed in the attention department. Or because you need to order in something besides pizza every night.

So what happens if you're not getting the writing love at home? That's when writing groups, live and online, come into play. Writers understand the agony of brainstorming, the ecstasy of typing "The End."

So start putting together your writing family. Trust me, you'll need them.

And while you're reading this, my crit group is out celebrating the success of one of our own with brunch at Panera's. 'Cause like I said, no one else understands this crazy business like your writing family.

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