"You're a writer. Will you do our newsletter?" "You're a writer. Can you put out a press release for us?" "You're a writer. Can you work up a grant application?" "We need someone to judge our contest, critique these stories, introduce the guest speakers. You're good with words. You'd be perfect."
Show of hands. How many have heard one or all of these requests? If you haven't already, you will. Whatever organization we belong to, whether it's church, AAUW or the Red Hat Ladies, it needs someone to do the work, and you, the writer, are available. After all, you don't have a 9 to 5 job. I'm here to tell you, fight them off. Just say no.
The worst offenders are writers' groups. Even other writers forget that you need time to stare into space and dream up your own stories, time to write them, time to rewrite them, time to market them.
Every writing expert tells you it's vital to network. Get to know other writers. Join writing organizations, go to conferences, set up critique groups, join online message boards. This is all good. Writing is a lonely business, and it's important to befriend other writers, to hang out, complain, share information, read each other's stories, and nudge each other to keep writing. Conferences and clubs offer great opportunities to learn more about the writing craft and to meet writers, editors, agents, and publishers who can help you advance in your career.
But it's all too easy to get so busy networking that you no longer have time to write. I have teetered on the edge of that cliff more times than I care to admit. I want to say yes. I'm flattered to be asked. I want to make people happy. I want the club to succeed. Suddenly I'm on the board, I'm writing press releases, putting out a newsletter, judging a contest, and hey, my writing time is gone.
I'm fortunate to have deadlines that occasionally force me to say no. When a real live paying editor is holding space in her newspaper for you or you have a publisher who expects your completed book by the end of the month, you have to quit playing around and write. But the club stuff can all too easily take me away from my other writing--the short stories, the creative nonfiction, the poetry--for which I have dreams but no deadlines.
I have a gifted writer friend who hasn't worked on her book in nearly a year. She spends her days driving all over the county seeking grants, setting up workshops, cajoling editors into running her press releases, doing everything but writing. Not only is she stressed out and weary, but she is in danger of wasting her amazing talent. I love her, but I want to strap her to a chair and force her to finish her stories.
Some people are clubbies who get more satisfaction from club work than from their writing. But the world loses something when an artist does not use the gifts she has been given.
Don't let it happen to you. Be stingy with your time. Don't let networking become your fulltime job. Don't join every organization; join only a few that seem to offer what you need. Don't volunteer for every job. Say no. It's okay to be just a member; you don't have to be president. Honestly tell your fellow writers that if you take on one more task, you will not be able to write. Remind them that your writing is the most important thing.
Many of us are caretakers. We feel as if we have to step in to do whatever needs to be done. If we are going to be serious about our writing, we have to let someone else help. And--this is the hardest part--if no one steps in and the organization falls apart, we have to let it go. Because we are writers, and writers must write their own stories. If there's time for the newsletter, too, do it and have fun, but if there isn't, say no. Put all that guilt in a paper bag and throw it into the trash. Write? Right.
Copyright 2006 Sue Fagalde Lick
About the Author: SUE FAGALDE LICK is a former newspaper editor turned full-time freelance writer. She has published four books, countless articles and many poems and stories. She teaches writing workshops online and at Oregon Coast Community College. Visit her web site at http://www.suelick.com.
Don't Club Your Career to Death: Beware the Pitfalls of Networking
