Find your Tribe.

A writer's life can often be a lonely one but when you find 'your tribe' your writer's soul will come alive. Interaction with people who understand your journey, your language, your passion can be the single most important thing you will do for yourself as a writer. With a supportive 'tribe' you will grow as a writer, hone your skills and widen your horizons. You discover everyone has their own story, their own struggle, their own goals and aspirations. You find those who are on the same genre path as you and can share tips and knowledge and they are perfect to play the 'what if' game we all love. You find those who have specialty knowledge that is just what you are needing and they are so willing to share. And we find those who need our own knowledge and expertise, whatever that may be, and we can share in return.
Best of all, we find beta readers who will devour our work and give the constructive critique we need to make sure we have got it right - before we expose our 'baby' to the reading public.

Coast to Coast Chapter of Romance Writers of NZ had their Christmas Retreat at Paradise Valley Lodge in Rotorua this weekend. (as we have done for the last 5 years.) Might be the last one there as the place is up for sale. It's been a beautiful venue. Perfect for a quiet writing space, spending quality time with other writers (My Tribe! They speak my lingo! ) and for working in a group situation. Thank you Khushi for introducing us to the pantoum form of poetry writing. It was amazing.
And thank you all for the wonderful camaraderie, supportive and insightful critiques and the yummy food. Saturday night's round-table session with the 'night owlish' ones is remembered fondly. Apologies to those who'd gone to bed earlier and did not see the joke at 10.40pm. It was really funny!