Wednesday, September 2, 2015

IWSG - The Sisterhood Myth

The Insecure Writer’s Support Group


I’ve been around a while, and outside of a handful of authors, I’ve not made lasting friends. I accept the reason for this lies mostly with me. It’s difficult to work full time and have a writing career. No, I’m not whining. It is what it is. But something else it is rings just as true, at least for me.

Back in the day I wrote a book and made the mistake of telling people about it. “Get it published!” they said. So I set about to finding out how to go about it. Fast forward to joining the RWA and an online paranormal chapter.

I asked a simple question. Many, many, many of those “mentors” told me where I could to buy a copy of their book, which, they assured me, held the answer. That’s not mentoring. That’s hawking your wares. (Funny how so many of them had a book on the topic of my question, which happened to be non-writing related.) To this day there's one woman whose books I will not purchase because of her cavalier attitude toward a newbie. 

As writers, we might think we don’t owe another like-wise engaged individuals a thing. They’re taking sales away from us. Why should we help them do that?

It goes a lot deeper than being a writer. We owe each other common courtesy and kindness, especially to someone who is floundering along the side of the road. It’s never in our best interest to bolster ourselves and our bottom line at the expense of another.

So here’s my kernel of wisdom for this IWSG post: Pick your friends carefully. Remember the Golden Rule and treat others the way you want to be treated. That newbie you can help might be able to do a good turn for you one day. 

Rayne Forrest
www.twitter.com/rayneforrest

7 comments:

  1. Excellent advice. I've come across so many authors just wanting to sell their books. I've made some awesome friends, but most were before they even had anything published.

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  2. Good post. This is so true and something we should all keep in mind.

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  3. Thanks for stopping by the blog. It pays to be nice to the newbies. They have long memories.

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  4. That's terrible! Any writer who asks me anything, I tell them or point them to a resource. (Especially if it's a writing tip, because I'm the last person you want a writing tip from.) Most authors are helpful and I'm glad I've not run into too many who just wanted me to buy their book.

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  5. Something I've heard repeated is that writers are also readers. I wouldn't be dismissive towards them.

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  7. Darn, I hate it when I click the wrong place and delete by mistake! I was saying I admire those authors who publish free help books for new authors. I would have given a lot to have had some of that information back in 2003 and 2004.

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