A Holiday Toast (Nancy Ohlin)

This holiday season, I want to send waves of gratitude and love to an underappreciated demographic in my life:  my fellow writers.

Writing truly is a solitary profession.  That’s one of the things that drew me to being a full-time writer:  no bosses, no office politics, no annoying colleagues. 

But over the years, it got to be a little too solitary for me.   The writers I knew rarely came out of their caves, myself included.  We hardly ever talked shop or traded war stories.  Some subjects were totally hush-hush, like advances, royalties, and how we got our agents; it was like we were engaged in our own version of the Hunger Games, quietly battling each other for a tiny, tiny pool of book contracts and readership dollars.

We definitely did not talk about how terrified we were most of the time.

Something seems to have changed, though, or maybe I’m the one who’s changed.  Now, if I’m having a bad day because of writer’s block, a rejection letter, marketing fatigue, creative fatigue, no self-esteem, no money, or all of the above, I know that I can pick up the phone, send an email, or post on Facebook, and you are all right there with support, hugs, advice, and virtual chocolate. 

I have no idea how I made it this far without you guys.

I raise my glass to all of you.  Happy Holidays!