By Nicole K. Galbraith
I’m a big fan of staying in my comfort zone. Who doesn’t want to be comfortable? I’ll watch a documentary of climbing Mt. Everest from the safety of my living room. While that’s an extreme example, sharing your writing for the first time feels just as terrifying to a new writer. Always cautious, I didn’t leap out of my comfort zone when it came to writing. I took it one step at a time. If you’re a cautious writer too, this could be the right approach for you also.
Step 1: See if you really want to do this writing thing
I always liked creative writing, but after college, I only wrote short pieces as models for my students. It always reminded me that I enjoyed writing, and I’d think I should write more, then never got around to it. Then, I read a collection of Beauty and the Beast retellings that were part of the Rooglewood Fairy Tale contest. At the end of the book, there was an advertisement for another contest with Snow White retellings. For some reason, that spoke to a part of me that always wondered if I could be a writer. I wanted to see if I could do it. I’d never written anything of that length (novella). I didn’t tell anyone, just wrote my story and sent off the submission. I got an honorable mention. The honorable mention was a good ego boost. But the most important thing was that I found out that not only did I have potential as a writer, but I enjoyed it.
Step 2: Start telling people
I didn’t shout my honorable mention from the rooftops, but I did tell the people closest to me. Telling just a few people holds you accountable, because they’ll ask about your writing. More importantly, for me, my mother noticed a sign at Barnes & Noble advertising a writing group. That was a much bigger step. Sitting in person and writing to a prompt on the spot eliminates the anonymity that comes with sending a story off to a judge who is a stranger. It took me a while to feel comfortable sharing, but once other people know, it makes the idea of seeing yourself as an aspiring writer easier.
Step 3: Go into lockdown
Turns out, being confined to home provides lots of writing time. When the world went into lockdown, I turned that novella into a novel. I read articles and watched videos about writing craft. I wrote the rough draft of a middle-grade novel. Most importantly, because of the Barnes & Noble group, I was on Steve Yates’s email list and found out about LCRW’s critiques. Again, the pandemic made this easier because we were meeting over zoom, which is less intimidating than meeting in person. To be clear, I’m not encouraging anyone to release a virus so there is another shut-down. But, it is important to make time for your writing. Find a time you can devote to writing. Make writing part of your life.
Step 4: Find your people
That LCRW critique led me to join the group. That introduced me to Sally Valentine, which led me to another children’s writing group. I also started participating in Writing Battle competitions online. It turns out writers are really a supportive group of people. Having people who have the same passion and who will support you makes all the difference. So, after you force yourself out of that comfort zone, you’ll find a whole new group of people who will help make the journey more comfortable.
