The "Writing Community" Part of the Writing Life

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There are many things I love about being a writer, and in particular, a children's author. I think I've made it abundantly clear that I love the experience of school and library author visits and the opportunity to correspond with young writers. I've blogged plenty about "The Writing Life," but I realize I've not yet mentioned how much I appreciate the community of writers that I'm a part of. 

I've made writing friends through the national SCBWI organization and my local SCBWI-Oregon chapter, as well as through Willamette Writers and the Authors Guild. I've made new friends on Twitter, and developed friendships on Facebook and on Facebook groups such as Portland KidLit and Storytime Underground. I've met new friends (and caught up with old friends) at author events at my local bookstores (Green Bean Books, Annie Blooms, Dudley's Bookshop Cafe, and Powell's Books to name a few). 

I've also made new friends by following up with authors who have posted on group blogs such as GROG Blog, by writing guest posts on others' blogs, such as this post I wrote for Tara Lazar's blog, by hosting interviews with other authors on my own blog, and by participating in creative experiences such as Tara Lazar's Storystorm and Vivian Kirkfield's #50PreciousWords Contest (which ends TODAY, March 6, 2019)...and which brings me to what prompted me to write today's blog post: 

Vivian's contest is described here, but essentially, the goal is to write (and share) a story with a beginning, middle, and end that is 50 words or less. I've posted my story on Vivian's blog, but I also thought I'd post it here:

*****

Vacation! (by Dawn Prochovnic, 48 Words)

Climb the stairs to the attic.

Find my suitcase.

Clunk, clunk, clunk back down the stairs.

Make a pile of socks, shirts, and shorts.

Fill my suitcase.

Zip, zip, zip until it’s closed tight.

Load the van.

Wave goodbye to the neighbors.

Vroom, vroom, vroom. Away we go.

*****

Thanks for hosting this fun, creative event, Vivian. It got me writing today!

Dear Readers: Where have you found YOUR writing community? I'd love for you to share in the comments, so we can all continue to build community and develop new friendships. And, even if you don't learn about Vivian's contest until after this year's deadline, I'd encourage you to take a look at the posts on Vivian's blog and go make some new friends!

(Oh, and check out Vivian's latest books ... she has a heap of them! I'll be featuring Vivian's path to publication story in the Birth Stories for Books series next month on my blog!)