The friends you don’t yet know

Last week, I wrote an email on the approximate topic of Be Proper English. I’m sure there was a writing-related theme in there somewhere, but I remember encouraging you to play football with a fractured tibia and smash home some penalties at near enough the speed of light. 

If there was a lesson in there about writing (there must have been, no?), it had to do with resilience – the single most necessary characteristic to have in an industry that is brutally hard on the people who underpin it. 

By most authorial standards, I’ve had a successful career. I’ve written bestsellers, signed movie option deals, seen a book televised, been on some significant prize shortlists, had some great reviews, sold books to a lot of countries and in a lot of languages – and given a lot of readers pleasure. But? Well, I’ve seen books fail. I’ve had to switch genres. I’ve had to wrestle with publishers. I’ve seen really promising starts collapse for reasons that essentially had nothing to do with me. 

So, resilience? Yes. It’s lesson one. (Closely allied: mastering some self-pub ju-jitsu, a great fallback if a trad career swerves off-track, as mine did in the US.) 

But also: friends. 

People always say that writing is a lonely profession, and it is / isn’t. 

It is, yes, because you don’t write in company – and you don’t want to – and that isn’t being lonely, it’s having precious creative time to yourself. 

But no, it isn’t. It’s the opposite. Authors – writers – are the most joyfully supportive bunch of humans on the planet. 

Part of the joy of writering is that sense of fellowship. I’ve been at literary festivals where my job was theoretically to mix with readers and promote my books. I used to try to do that too, except then I realised it was way more fun just to hang with authors: those I knew and those I didn’t yet know. Those weekends were always joyful. 

And online groups too. Talk to any vaguely engaged contemporary author and they’ll be part of a community that vastly matters to them. For wisdom, for laughter, for support, for advice, for just sharing moments of pain. Honestly? I love ‘n’ adore my wife, of course I do, but for that particular kind of support, those online groups have a kind of magic that nothing else can replace. 

All this because we – Jericho – haven’t done enough in the past to create a community for you. The will has been there, and the intention, but the software we were using to deliver has just not been good enough. 

All that changes, this week. 

Our community site is now fast, friendly, un-glitchy and easy to navigate. It’s a place to make friends and find beta readers, get feedback and seek advice. 

There’s a ton of free resources from us, too – no extra sign up needed. If you’re part of the community, you get all that automatically. 

If you are already signed up, then explore, explore, explore. This refreshed community could easily be one of the most important parts of your writing life. I’ve known writers for whom communities of this sort have been absolutely central to their development as writers.  

And if you’re not yet signed up? Well, duh, it’s free? What’s the worst that could happen? Probably that you get annoyed because you have to think of a password. (But you’re a writer, yes? You can think of three words, no? Egg-noose-possum. There you go. Maybe change the words, though, we can’t have everyone with possum-based passwords.) 

And what’s the best? The best is that you find one of the most joyous and most supportive groups that you’ll ever have in your life. The whole damn thing is free, y’know. 

That’s it from me. 

Feedback Friday is a celebration of you and the things you love. Come one, come all. Let’s make it a big one.

FEEDBACK FRIDAY / Your darlings

Give me your darlings: 200-300 words from your work in progress that you just love.

Give us the title / genre / and a 1-2 line intro to your piece. Then just show us your joy. On a beautiful new community site. 

Til soon. 

Harry