Writing is blissfully/cursedly solitary work. There’s no one that can tell me if I’m on the right track or help me through a sticking point, not really. There are some things I have to trust myself on, wait for the connection to be made in my brain, the click to occur.

There are other things having a writing network can help with. Questions about best practices, event meet-ups, having someone who can hear a complaint without shrugging their shoulders in an inability to empathize.

When I started writing, I was thrilled with the solitariness, I still am. But occasionally, I’d want someone to tell me they too stared out a window in an effort to make the words come. Or that they too had moments where they felt like they were just spinning their wheels, an entire day doing social media because they couldn’t face their manuscript. Someone to agree that these temporary distractions from the work are just that: temporary, and that they’re also oddly essential to the process.

We don’t recognize when our subconscious is working through something our conscious can’t quite see yet.

In an effort to build my network, I did something potentially stupid and inadvisable. I don’t know, I’m not sure. The jury is still out, because it’s been mostly amazing, although I did have one person suspect me of being a scammer 😂

Here’s what I did:

I googled “authors in (my state)” – so Montana, in this case

Then I started a spreadsheet where I listed these people’s first and last names, their websites (as I found them), their email addresses, etc. And I sent them an email, either using their email or through their website’s contact page. My email wasn’t fantastic (clearly it wasn’t if I had one person think I was a scammer), and possibly more because not everyone responded to me.

The email itself was simple. No more than three sentences. A greeting by name, a statement that I am also a writer in their state, that I look forward to reading their book(s), and that I hoped we’d meet in person some day at a workshop, reading, or event, closing with contact info.

Did I really expect to hear from anybody? Yes and no. I figured some of them would drop a quick “hey” and others would ignore me. What I did not expect was to have several of these writers reach back.

Several authors sent me a paragraph or more in response. A few asked me to meet up for coffee or lunch if I was ever in their area. A couple have remained in touch and I hear from them every month or so. Some I’ve since had the privilege to meet in person at various events. And some I follow on all the socials and it feels a bit like following a friend, and not a just a writing mentor or hero.

Should you do what I did? I dunno…it probably depends on what state you live in. I happen to live in a place where people know their neighbors by name and flick a wave to one another when passing in the street. Perhaps in another state it wouldn’t work.

If I had to do it all again, I’d probably wait until after I’d read their book to contact them. That way I could have said how much I liked it or what specifically I liked about it.

I still add to my spreadsheet as I meet other writers in the area and/or read a book from a Montana writer I hadn’t previously heard from.

Probably the only reason I heard from as many writers as I did and received such genuinely lovely responses, is that I undertook this exercise from a genuine and vulnerable place. This little exercise wasn’t undertaken as a way to further my career, to ask for blurbs, or to make myself sound cool. I could have reached out to ANY writers, not just in my state. Go big or go home, right? I could have reached out to Stephen King! But that would have felt disingenuous. As a teenager obsessed with everything he wrote? Genuine. As an adult who doesn’t read horror? Fake.

If you’re looking for a writer network, it’s not a bad idea. There’s probably a less archaic way to go about it. Especially with the new Threads app that allows you to use tags like #WriterThreads (hugely popular). Whatever you do, if you’re looking for community, the best way to proceed is now. Decide what you want to do and do it. Follow writers on Threads. Follow agencies on Facebook. Follow publishers on Instagram.

Do something to ensure you have a network when you need one. Even if they’re strangers now, they won’t be forever, unless you give up on your dream, and having a network may just help you follow it.