Writers Supporting Other Writers

By Narelle Atkins 

How can writers support each other? What does this look like in practice? 

These are questions that have been discussed among my writing friends in recent weeks. I’ve personally experienced a lot of support from my writing friends and writing organisations. A non-romance writing friend has suggested my positive experiences reflect my involvement in the romance writing world. 

In recent weeks I’ve attended the Romance Writers of America conference in San Antonio and the Romance Writers of Australia conference in Sydney last weekend. It was lovely to catch up with Dotti and Mary in Sydney.

Dorothy Adamek, Mary Hawkins & Narelle Atkins at #RWAus14

The four days I spent in Sydney were very valuable. James Scott Bell’s Friday workshop was a definite highlight. I received my first sale ribbon at the conference. I was welcomed into the Harlequin Australia family at their fabulous author dinner. 

I loved catching up with old friends and making new friends. I attended Rowena Beresford’s helpful workshop on YA fiction. Dotti, Mary and I met Ian Acheson in person for the first time when he stopped by Olympic Park for a morning coffee at Gloria Jeans. 

During the Sydney conference I reflected on why this community of romance writers is so supportive of each other. The answer was obvious in every aspect of the conference. There’s a culture of generosity and volunteerism in the romance writing community. I’ve also seen this in action as a member of the American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) community. ACFW started out as American Christian Romance Writers, and the culture of volunteerism is very strong in ACFW. 

Romance Writers of Australia have members who are volunteering many thousands of hours each year. Yes, I said thousands. The organisation has nearly one thousand members. Their entire conference committee is run by volunteers who give up their valuable time, sacrifice their writing time and family time, to pull together an amazing conference each year. There are members doing a long list of jobs for the organisation behind the scenes, too many roles to list. They run a large number of writing contests and have volunteers who co-ordinate and judge the contests. 

The volunteers are willing to give generously of their time because they love the organisation. They don’t do it to get something in return. Although, when you have a culture a volunteerism you will ultimately receive benefits from the work and generosity of others. 

I’ve heard people complain about having to pay membership fees to writing organisations. They question if they will receive value for money from their membership dues. I think this can be the wrong question to ask. In a culture of volunteerism, we join a writing organisation with a view to give and contribute. We have a servant heart and ask the following questions: How can I help out? What unique gifts, talents and skills can I offer? 

The membership dues for organisations like Romance Writers of Australia would be unaffordable for nearly everyone if those thousands of volunteer hours were performed by paid employees.

Many writing organisations offer membership discounts, for example to attend their conferences and enter their contests. There are some costs, for example newsletter printing, postage, website hosting, that can’t be covered by volunteer labour. In most cases the annual membership fees are small when compared to the potential benefits for members. If you don't believe the membership benefits are relevant or helpful, it may be wise to consider joining a different organisation that could better suit your individual needs as a writer.

If your primary goal in joining a writing organisation is to get something out of it, and if you’re not willing to contribute your time, money and resources, you’re taking an unhealthy step in the direction of selfish author syndrome. The writing organisations I value would not exist without the selfless contributions by willing volunteers. 

My challenge for you: Examine the writing organisations you belong to and see if you have any capacity to volunteer in a big or small way. How can you ‘pay it forward’ by helping others in their writing journey?

NARELLE ATKINS writes contemporary inspirational romance and lives in Canberra, Australia. She sold her debut novel, set in Australia, to Harlequin's Love Inspired Heartsong Presents line in a 6-book contract. Her debut book, Falling for the Farmer, was a February 2014 release, followed by The Nurse's Perfect Match in May 2014, The Doctor's Return in August 2014, Her Tycoon Hero in November 2014, and Winning Over the Heiress in February 2015.

Narelle blogs regularly with International Christian fiction Writers and Inspy Romance. http://internationalchristianfictionwriters.blogspot.com/ 
http://www.inspyromance.com/ 

She is also a co-founder of the Australian Christian Readers Blog Alliance (ACRBA).
http://acrba.blogspot.com/ 

Website: http://www.narelleatkins.com
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Twitter: @NarelleAtkins https://twitter.com/NarelleAtkins

Those interesting writing questions

To mark the release of my latest novel, The Inheritance, a few weeks ago, our senior pastor was gracious enough to interview me in our morning service, after which I offered my new book for sale—kind of like a ‘mini-launch’ just for the folk at our church. In the interview, I even managed to sneak in a little plea for people to look for books by Aussie (and NZ!) Christian authors at their local Christian bookstore!

I enjoyed chatting to people as I sold my books, but just as I was packing up, a rather intimidating lady approached me.

‘When you have a moment, I’d like to ask you something.’

I hurried to finish what I was doing, wondering what her question would be. Had she objected to something I had said in my interview? Did she not like the idea of Christians writing novels? I was ready for just about anything.

Eventually, she drew me to one side.

‘I’d like to ask you—how do you write a book?’

Just a simple little question! I tried not to look too shocked and hoped my mouth wasn’t hanging open. I have been asked this question before, especially during bookstore appearances, but this time I couldn’t think how to respond. You see, this lady seemed well educated and very articulate. Was she really expecting me to give her a comprehensive response then and there?

In the end, I decided to ask a question of my own—several, in fact. Was she interested in writing a book herself? If so, what sort? Would it be for her family or for a wider audience? Had she begun to write already? Did she enjoy writing?

As we talked, I discovered she wanted to write her own life story. I offered to give her some notes I have available on topics such as getting started in writing and getting published. I recommended a couple of books on the subject. I suggested she write letters, journal entries, brief articles—anything to stretch her creative writing abilities. I told her about a Christian writers’ group nearby, but she did not seem interested. On top of that, she does not use a computer and was not keen to learn.

Then came another abrupt question.

‘Well, I actually wondered if you’d write it for me.’

Hmm. Was this her real question all along? Was she hoping I would jump at the opportunity? Perhaps you have received similar requests and, like me, have had to turn them down. I have too many books of my own waiting to be written at present—and, apart from that, I am in the middle of a very busy period of promoting my new novel. I could see this lady did not appreciate all this, however, and I felt mean disappointing her.

How would you have responded to this lady’s first question? Had I been less busy, I could perhaps have offered to meet with her and talk more about it. After all, many authors have answered my inept questions about writing over the years. Is there a better or more gracious way to help such people? What do you think?

Jo-Anne Berthelsen lives in Sydney but grew up in Brisbane. She holds degrees in Arts and Theology and has worked as a high school teacher, editor and secretary, as well as in local church ministry. Jo-Anne is passionate about touching hearts and lives through both the written and spoken word. She is the author of six published novels and one non-fiction work, Soul Friend: the story of a shared spiritual journey. Jo-Anne is married to a retired minister and has three grown-up children and three grandchildren. For more information, please visit www.jo-anneberthelsen.com or www.soulfriend.com.au.