Welcome to The Learning Curve. I am chronicling my journey as a new writer in hopes of inspiring you to put that bag of chips down, step away from the television, and tell the world a good story.

Essentials for a Writer

A writer has a toolbox that he or she works from. Those of you who have read On Writing by Stephen King or similar books on the subject will recognize the phrase. Our toolboxes contain the basics such as vocabulary and grammar. Eventually we will add style and voice to it, thereby customizing and making the toolbox our own. When we use the tools of our trade frequently, there’s little chance of them becoming rusty.

For some of us, however, it doesn’t matter how shiny the tools are if we don’t have a second box to draw upon. Nearly every writer, at one point or another, will have need of this box. It’s filled with the essential ingredients that inspire us to continue when we want to throw in the towel, to be a better writer, and to help us realize that even though writing is a lonely job, we are not alone. I call it the lunchbox.

The lunchbox is where we draw our nourishment from. It comes in the form of friends, family, and anyone willing to take the time to read our scribbling. Over the past year I’ve met many authors in training. Nearly all of them were chasing the dream of publishing a book. Only a handful of these people are still writing today. Did the dream die? What changed?

The excuses: I can never find time to write, my social life is non-existent and I miss my friends, I’m not very good at it. The list goes on. Every time I heard one of these excuses, I consciously put these folks into one of two categories: a toy box or an empty lunchbox. The toy box people think writing will be quick, easy, and fun. When they realize it isn’t easy, and it actually is a lot of work, they move on to something else. These folks, I let go.

Those with empty lunchboxes are the ones worth salvaging. I honestly hate to see anyone not pursue a dream. It doesn’t matter to me how well developed their toolboxes are; if their lunchboxes are empty, then I feel like it’s my job to try to pack a few essential ingredients for them. Without these, the dream of seeing a manuscript published will eventually die.

The first ingredient is called feedback.

feed-back (noun)

1. Response: comments in the form of opinions about and reactions to something, intended to provide useful information for future decisions and development

I do believe that’s the first and only time I’ve ever plagiarized the dictionary. I even left a period off after the word development, just like they did in the book. If you’re going to steal something, do it right I always say.

However, in this case I think the dictionary definition is lacking. It’s missing a key word. The proper definition should read:

“…comments in the form of honest opinions about and reactions to something…”

Without honest feedback a struggling writer will never grow, evolve, and learn.

The second ingredient is called encouragement.

en-cour-age-ment (noun)

1. Support: it inspires confidence and a will to continue or develop (2) something that encourages: somebody who or something that gives somebody hope, confidence, or courage

Hey, I’m getting pretty good at this plagiarism thing. My spider senses are telling me that I’ll be doing a future article on that topic if I’m not careful. Anyway, back to the mission at hand.

When your own lunchbox runs dry, or nearly empty, where do you go to fill it? Who inspires you to keep writing? Where do you seek feedback and an encouraging word?

In my case there are many people who never fail to fill my lunchbox to overflowing. My wife is my biggest supporter, and chasing this dream would not be possible without her. I am seriously blessed to even know her, let alone call her my better half.

These people—Chris James, Jo-Anne Teal, JD Mader, David Antrobus, Edward Lorn, Audrey Carden, Scott Bury, Rob Guthrie, Donna B. McNicol, the entire staff at Indies Unlimited and many others—all keep me going.

Writing would be a lonely job without a support network. Next month I’ll discuss how to create your own support group. In the meantime, dust off your toolbox and don’t forget to pack a lunch.