There are thousands of people in the world who like to read the same things you like to read. You need to find them.
Next week, novelist Lance Olsen will stop by to discuss his new book, Anxious Pleasures. Even after writing a small shelf of books, he still depends on his writing community: "it's a tiny handful of voices I've learned to trust that can and do continually challenge my writing in fruitful ways," he told me.
How do we build community? One way is to attend the Lit-Blog Co-Op and Galleycat parties like I did last night. I met Edward Champion for the first time, and he led me through a real-life blogroll that included such varied writers as tao lin (the bewitching, addictive writer that some have speculated is more than one person but that's not true because I met him), Bud Parr (the prolific blogger who writes thoughtful posts at Chekhov's Mistress), Mark Sarvas (the novelist who runs The Elegant Variation), and the team of book bloggers who post at The Millions.
While the party was too crowded to become Best Friends Forever, it was reassuring to find all my scribbling neighbors--and my Google Reader is loaded with new content.
If you live too far away for these parties, there are plenty of sites designed to help you find other readers. I like Newsvine, a social-networking site for citizen journalists that collects user-selected content and allows readers to browse popular stories in every category.
Start finding your writing buddies, online and in the real world. You'll need them...
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