How to socialize as a solitary author

Wine, friends, and story......

Writing is usually a solitary job, but I love to socialize; this was what initially prevented me from wanting to become an author. How can I write by myself and still interact with real people? And no, the fabricated characters inside your book are not real, Larry.

The solution was simple — I would involve a friend to help me brainstorm and create the story of the book.

I came up with the original concept of my book before I started the writing process, but after 15-years of story development I knew my concept would change and I didn't want to go it alone. I used to love to work with talented producers, writers ,and editors throwing story ideas out whether they were good or bad. The majority were bad, but those were sometimes my favorite — causing the room to explode in laughter.

So I enlisted my very talented friend, Tricia, into helping me craft the story as I wrote.

Tricia and I first got together every weekend. We had some wine (The benefit of working for yourself) and discussed the main concept of the book series. We were roughly able to lay out what each book would contain.

Then I began the writing process. Writing a novel was very different from my past experience. Every time I typed my story changed. My naughty fingers couldn't contain the expansive stories they plucked on my keyboard. This was new for me because when you work for a network you can't all of a sudden say, "Hey Bob — I know you want a drama, but I've changed my mind and will be giving you a comedy." Bob would not like that.

BTW, this is off topic but I just read the above passage to my husband and he thinks naughty fingers is weird. I debated changing it to frisky, but he was horrified by that too. So, no need to comment on it, Karen.

Any-who, Tricia and I continued to work on our book and make changes, and I ultimately was able to enjoy the solitary part of my job because I knew I had an amazing friend who would help me see the problems, enjoy my triumphs and have my back. So even if the book doesn't make me the next JK Rowlings (I aim high) I still had the best time of my life writing it.

The point is if you want to do something make it work for you.

20 bottles of wine were hurt in the making of my book -