As I was taking the online course “Crafting Your Short Fiction”, the instructor, Prof. William Woods, mentioned the lonely aspects of a writer’s life. He writes, “The profession tends to be a lonely one. By the very nature of the business, you will have to spend many long hours by yourself. Solitude is a way of life for the creative writer. Writers must be isolated for the majority of their lives. The next problem is closely related – it is very hard to maintain quality relationships if you have to be in the back of the house typing away up to ten hours a day all by yourself. If you have an understanding significant other, count yourself lucky. Chances are great that you’ll never make a ton of money at your craft – sometimes folks close to you won’t be able to understand why you chose such a life.”

      (Personally, I think the life chose me.)

      At one point in the course we studied famous authors. Here’s what Ernest Hemingway said about the writer’s life in his Nobel Prize acceptance speech – “Writing, at its best, is a lonely life. Organizations for writers palliate the writer’s loneliness but I doubt if they improve his writing. He grows in public stature as he sheds his loneliness and often his work deteriorates. For he does his work alone and if he is a good enough writer he must face eternity, or the lack of it, each day.”

      These seemed to agree with my own observations. But it apparently wasn’t God’s plan to leave me completely without connections. In the Fall 03 semester of the Making Peace with Your Past class, I was able to get close to and learned to trust deeply the other leaders in the group. This helped me a lot, but it was limited because they are all women. But in December a friend, S. Q., and I have reconnected and this is growing. He is a good friend to me because not only do we have a lot in common, but he can go deep as well. He also understands my frustration and occasional discouragement at seeing God’s calling for me kept on the back burner, as I understand the same in him. I suppose my connections will always be limited, but I am glad for the friends I do have. Chief among them is Vickie. Our understanding for each other grows continuously. 

– 1/15/04