A journy is best measured in friends rather than miles.
Tim Cahill
Events like the writers conference this past weekend remind me how important it is to get out of the office/studio and connect with people. Writers and other creatives spend a lot of time working in isolation in a cave of creativity. That cave is comfortable and familiar.
But, in that isolation, it is easy to believe that you are the only one who suffers “the slings and arrows of outrageous misfortune.” Only you take months and months to write a book. Only you have a family that thinks you’re crazy for doing what you do when you could make more money doing something else and that you are a dreamer for thinking you’ll ever succeed with all the competition out there. Only you are still struggling to get your work out in the world.
But if you leave your cave, you’re apt to discover that those experiences are not uncommon for other creatives. And what a relief that is. And how wonderful to also discover options for dealing with and even changing those experiences.
Certainly, if you are an introvert, it may feel safer and easier to stay at home in your cave. I’ve worked with clients who hate to have to emerge from their comfy hidey hole. And hubby Bob would be the first to tell you that I can go for weeks and never leave the house.
But I can only hibernate for so long before I desperately need the connection with others, especially other writers.
So I leave my cave. Not just to connect with others but to learn as well.
Because of my willingness to leave my comfy cave, I’ve made new writing friends who are now subscribers to this newsletter. I’ve made connections with people that turned into opportunities to speak and teach as evidenced by this past weekend’s conference. I’ve had the important opportunity to pitch to agents and editors which not only puts me a little higher up on the slush pile but also lets me key into who I might best work with long-term. I’ve worked and played and returned home to my cave inspired, renewed, and motivated to get back to doing what I love.
Just as I mentioned last week, it is not enough anymore to just do the work. You have to promote it. And part of promoting it, is getting out and connecting with people.
I know travel isn’t always easy because of cost and time demands and health. But as I noticed attendees at this week’s conference who were blind or needed a motorized wheelchair, or a companion dog, I was reminded that even though it is easier to come up with excuses to stay in the cave, if it is important to leave the cave—and it is—you will find a way.
It is spring, after all. Stop being a bear and get out there.
Your Muse will thank you and so will your new friends.