DAY 64 - WRITERS ARE WEIRD

OK, now that I’m doing this Writing Challenge (NaNoWriMo) — I decided to reach out and connect with other writers. I went to a couple of events for Writers these past few days, and one of the things that is very apparent:  Writers are Weird.

   I guess that shouldn’t have really come as a surprise to me. My family is full of writers — and, yes, they are a bit “quirky”. They have unusual hobbies. They tend to have somewhat “tangent” ideas — and they are fiercely dedicated to their tangentness. But some of the writers I met these past few days are truly “weird”.

   One of the meetings was at The Chocolate — a yummilicious dessert store in Orem. First, kudos for location choice. And although a few of the people seemed fairly normal, there were a few that were… well, weird. One woman was particularly chatty — not that being social is a problem for me (since I’m rather social myself). But this woman could talk me under the table. And her chattiness was even more surprising because not only was she in charge, but all of us brought laptops and notebooks and wanted to write — something usually more easily accomplished in a more hushed, library-like atmosphere.

   The other meeting was at a place called Dragons Keep in Provo — apparently a Fantasy Gaming and Comic Book store. I’ve never set foot in this store before, and unless I find the need for 27-sided dice or really-expensive and scantily-clad Action Figures sometime in the future — well, I’m not likely to frequent it very often. There was a rather large turnout, pizza & pop, and LOTS of people who apparently do this NaNoWriMo thing every November. And an amazing number of these individuals write Science or Fantasy Fiction. There were a significant number of conversations about Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit — movies I haven’t even seen, which confession immediately put me well-outside of the Inner Circle in this group.

   Fortunately, I have a great friend that enjoys writing also — and we decided to just be our own little group. We like to hang out anyway. We both actually want to write, so a quiet place to do so is a priority. And we are both pretty normal women.

   Having a Writing Buddy is a great thing. Much like a Diet Buddy or an AA Sponsor, having someone that supports you and gives you encouragement is a great thing in life. It’s much of the reason we all get married. But sometimes you have a specific hobby that you need a buddy/mentor for — and that’s a great thing too. I have Buddies for different areas of my life because no one person likes all the same things that I do. And it’s nice to have different friends I can share different parts of my life with.

   So if you think I’m a bit weird, thank you. Maybe that means I will make a good writer someday.