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Here in Connecticut, April came rampaging in like a belligerent old ram. The mean-looking type with the big bad horns that Aries horoscopes always feature. The sort of creature that stands its ground, shakes those big bad horns and declares that “Winter ain’t over till I say so.”

I will now illustrate with a photo of my garden:

You see my point? That old ram is just a big, obstinate, obstreperous meenie. It’s also supposed to represent all those born under the blessed sign of Aries. My own star sign, coincidentally. It’s said to epitomize all the pig-headed stubbornness of the Aries, the side of us that just won’t give up, no matter how many times we’re pushed over. That whole stick-your-chin-in-the-air-and-keep-going thing.

Guess what? If you’re a writer, that’s probably you as well. It’s hard work, this here writing gig. If you’re unpublished, you’re struggling to get your foot on the first rung. If you’re published, you’re trying hard not to grab a snake instead of a ladder and slide back a few spaces, or even all the way back to the beginning of the game board. Because even with all your hard work, you might still roll the wrong number on the dice.

So that’s us. Writer-folk. Hard-headed, stubborn, determined to meet whatever may come with horns down and at the ready.

And fabulously obstreperous.

Critique and writing groups rock. Seriously, if you aren’t yet part of some sort of real life or virtual writing community that can give you support and help you cut through all the inevitable BS that gets tangled up in the good bits of your writing, then get thee to one right now.

My writing group is worth gold. Solid, 24k gold. We laugh together, hold each other’s hands when querying or on submission and brainstorm together. We aren’t afraid to hold a sharp scalpel to each other’s work. We often meet up just to hang out and write – in fact, in about an hour I’m off to our local bookstore to do just that, sit down with my friends and write.

I also belong to a fabulous online community, the SFF Chronicles (take heed, spec fic writers). The Chrons has a great aspiring authors forum, where you can ask any odd question that pops up along the way. Like ‘how do you get a horse into a tunnel?’ or ‘Should I go for a meteor or a dinosaur as my climax?’ Or one of my recent faves: ‘Help me figure out how to kill my rock monster!’ We also have a critiques forum for small excerpts; you haven’t lived until you’ve survived having something pulled apart and put back together stronger by the very knowledgeable Chronners. I’ve met great beta readers there – we take turns reading work for each other and giving feedback.

So if you don’t have this sort of support yet, I’d consider looking into it. You can find local groups pretty easily nowadays (I know my town library hosts one), and there are a wealth of great online communities like the one I belong to.

No one is an island, yadda yadda, bla bla bla. You know where this is going. Yeah, I like to sit at home alone in a tea-fuelled fog and write as much as the rest of you; antisocial little beasties, us writers. But try stepping outside your word cave (even if only virtually) and connecting with other writers. I can promise you there will be no regrets. Only solid, 24k gold rewards.

If you’re anything like me, you’re probably always scribbling odd, random notes on scraps of paper or typing snippets in your phone and forgetting about them. And then, if you’re like me, you find those notes eons later and wonder what in the name of Swiss cheese?!

For example, I found this one the other day:

“Beware the dragon”, the old man said. “She will fill your dreams with magic and moon-song, and you will have no choice but to follow her heedless path.”

But the dragon’s siren call… Ah, I dare you to resist. She will not be defied, but must instead be followed, with absolute abandon and complete devotion.

She cannot be seen, this dragon temptress, for she weaves her spell in the warm, dark recesses of the mind. She plants her seeds and watches them grow as stories and poems of all shapes and sizes. And then, like some poor honey-trapped insect, you must write or be destroyed, from the soul out.

See what I mean? Swiss cheese. Definitely.

And no, you can’t have some of whatever I was drinking at the time. In any case, it was probably apple juice. Or tea. And I don’t share tea.

Or: When is a Ski Trip Like Writing?

*Disclaimer: despite the title, no hobbits were harmed in the making of this blog post.*

A week ago I was merrily packing for a little ski jaunt up to the beautiful Colorado Rockies. I was planning to catch up with my dad and spend some quality time with my kids. Mountain views and bonding time. Perfect.

Or so I thought.

Turns out that the one time I decide to go on a distant vacation without my husband is also the first time in almost two years that my youngest chooses to get sick. And then kindly passes me her cold. I ended up spending most of my week inside the condo, keeping her company or coughing. When I wasn’t cajoling my son to not give up on his snowboarding lessons.

Still, I did get the quality time I wanted with my dad and kids, even though it wasn’t quite the vacation I’d planned. And the views – even from inside – were truly lovely.

All in all, the week turned out to be a little like writing a novel.

“What’s that?” you ask. “Just how is a no ski ski vacation like writing a novel?”

Well, it is. Kind of. See, when you start out with a blank document and a fresh concept, you probably have some notion about where the whole thing is headed. Even if you’re not a planner, you have a rough idea of the layout of the land and where the ending lies. So you start writing. And then, eventually, you hit the first bumps. Your characters refuse to act the way you want them to. Maybe your minor throwaway guy decides he’s the true villain (more power to you, secret villain!). Or the princess wants to play with ray guns (Pow! Zap! Awesome!). And then the castle turns out to be a trap and the real kingdom is somewhere up above in the clouds and you’re fresh out of flying horses and it starts to rain…

Okay, maybe I got a little carried away. But you get where I’m going, right?

When you’re writing, your mind throws you curveballs all the time. And, much like vacationing with kids, you have to be prepared to roll with it. Your story may not take you along the lines you expected, but it will get there in the end, and who knows? You may just achieve everything you set out to do in the first place.

I can promise you one thing, though. The views will be fantastic.