During this time of thankfulness, I have been thinking about what I am most thankful for. Immediately, I think of my family and how precious each of them are to me. But I also have been thinking about my newfound family, the local writing community. Brett and I have been extremely fortunate to have met so many great people and writers as we have embarked on this journey. We were welcomed with open arms and accepted into this inclusive group. We discovered that writers want to help each other out and truly look to advance the craft of writing and encourage their fellow compatriots to succeed. There seems to be no ill will towards those that succeed but instead a sense of gratification that “one of our own” has done well. We try to assist other writers in whatever they need. Whether it be on writing itself, concepts or the dreaded marketing, it seems that someone is there to lend some advice. Yes, there are people out there whose main goal is to make money off writers, but for the most part the core group that I have found is there to assist. At least this is what Brett and I have discovered about our local writing community in Orange County.
From the onset, The Southern Californian Writers Association (www.ocwriter.com) was instrumental in meeting some great people that have encouraged us. With their support, we were able to learn a lot about writing, ourselves, and eventually, we were able to release our novel Skipping Stones. We later became even more indoctrinated by attending the Southern California Writer’s Conference (www.writersconference.com) in which we were exposed to so many new ideas and concepts. OC Writers (www.ocwriters.network) has been a fountain of knowledge and great articles to learn from. Now, Brett and I continue to write and meet weekly with the “Merry Band of Five” (Jeff Michaels, Jill Weiss, Amy Hollingsworth, Ananya and Brett) at a local Panera Bread. This has proven invaluable to me to keep writing and remain inspired.
For these great organizations and individuals, there are many words to say but I will only say this – from the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU!
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