Author Cheryl Wyatt has gracious agreed to run a series on Seriously Write over the next several Fridays. She has provided encouragement and advice to me (Annette) on several occasions, cheering me on. I'm thrilled she can visit Seriously Write.So, this Fortifying Friday, please welcome Cheryl with the first part of her Staying Grounded as Your Career Soars series.
Staying Grounded as Your Career Soars
By Cheryl Wyatt
Day 1-Friendship
By Cheryl Wyatt
Day 1-Friendship
At a writers’ retreat, well-known authors spoke about the importance of maintaining hometown friendships. I want to share their advice.
Writers are strange. Who else stands in elevators with “normals” aka non-writers and argue over the best place to hide a weapon? Or walk into police stations and blurt, “I need to know the best place to hide a decomposing body so it won’t be found for three weeks.”
Yes, I know suspense writers who’ve done it. LOL! Shocked the officers on duty.
Because writers are wired weird, we tend to clump together. As our life becomes more grounded in the publishing industry, we accrue more online friends than hometown buddies.
But what happens when something hard comes? We need people geographically close. Most of our writer buddies won’t be able to physically help us through a taxing ordeal. Life spits storms at all of us.
I don’t want you to be bereft of friends when yours blows to shore.
After a 2008 car accident, I required surgeries. It’s hard to take care of a family when both feet can’t bear weight. Try to hop, crutches under arms, to a stove with a pan. By the time I reached the stove, all the water sloshed from the pan. Menial tasks became monumental. A dear writer friend, Camy Tang, flew from afar to stay with us during one of my surgeries, days apart from another. I can’t enunciate the tremendous blessing and relief she was to my family during that time.
But, she couldn’t obviously leave her own family for the entire ordeal which lasted months. It was people from my church, close-by family and neighbors who came bearing meals, wheels, and mops who got us through the long haul. It’s really hard to have to depend on others but at points in life we’ll all be in that position. People will be more apt to pitch in and help if we’ve remained active and interested in them and their lives.
No matter where we are in our publication journey, let’s not neglect our friendships. People matter more than things. Cultivate hometown friendships. Hardship passes over no one. Sure, our writer friends will send cyber hugs. But there’s nothing more comforting than sharing a warm cup of cocoa with a face-to-face friend who can hug us in person on a truly blue day. I’ve learned not to neglect friendships for the sake of story. Nor be such a deadline-driven recluse that I pull away from those who love and care about me.
When we enter hard seasons, they’ll be there. They’ll also cheer as our life crawls from winter’s cold ashes into new seasons of hope reborn. Good friends will be there in hard times and happy times. I encourage you to nurture nearby friendships. You have no idea how much you need them and they need you. Keep close and hold dear the family and friends around you.
~ Cheryl Wyatt
Born Valentine’s Day on a naval base, Cheryl Wyatt writes military romance. Her Steeple Hill debuts earned RT Top Picks plus #1 and #4 on eHarlequin's Top 10 Most-Blogged-About-Books, lists including NYT Bestsellers. Check out her Web site.
Her latest book, Soldier Daddy, a Steeple Hill Love Inspired title, released in October, 2009.
U.S. Air Force commander Aaron Petrowski leads pararescue teams, yet can't find one nanny for his three-year-old twins?
The widowed father is returning to duty, but not without the best care for his beloved boys. So when Sarah Graham applies, the young woman surprises everyone by passing inspection. Until Aaron discovers Sarah has a secret tied to a tragedy in his past.
He can't keep her in his employ—or in his heart. Until his brave little soldier boys teach him a thing or two about love.
