We write better when we are not alone

Last week I was in Winnipeg with Patricia, my writing buddy and co-author of Craft, Cost & Call: How to Build a Life as a Christian Writer. We visited Providence College & Seminary and spoke and shared with writing students in an afternoon class. That night, we participated in a book launch and conversation about creativity, writing and faith led by Steve Bell, the much-loved singer-songwriter. How generous it was for Steve to host the evening for us, to read our book and speak so highly of it, and then ask us such great questions.

There was also a lot of cheese, and who doesn’t enjoy that?

It was deeply moving to share thoughts and hear from other pilgrims on the writing journey. What struck me once again was how much better we do when we are in community and how important the encouragement and experience of other writers is to our own work and writing lives. It is true, as C.S. Lewis famously said, that we read to know we are not alone. And it is equally true that we write better when we know we are not alone.