Who, me?

By jessica vealitzek

The writing life just keeps getting better. Every time I start kicking the can of despair down the street while whistling a melancholy tune, something happens that slaps me on the back of the head to stop the melodrama.

Earlier this week, a woman I met at the Backspace conference last May emailed me. She and four other writers have started a, fittingly, great new web site called Great New Books. It’s an online book club of sorts that pairs new books with readers. They were looking for a 6th writer to help run the site and she asked me.

My initial thought was, “I am awesome!” And then I thought, “I read awesomely slow” and “How can I buy enough candy to get my kids to sit quietly in the corner while I add another item to my schedule?”

But I said yes, because this is an exciting venture, they’ve launched a very cool concept, and I just LOVE writers. I now love them more than I love books. All of your encouraging comments last week, by the way, urging me on to synopsis completion were each like a shot of Grey Goose accompanied by a Mumford & Sons song. So thank you.

Maybe it’s because writing is lonely that we all reach out to each other. Or maybe it’s another lesson in that when you put yourself out there, others will do the same.

Either way, I feel like I’m in AA, but for writers. And I am ADDICTED to us.

It goes to show that when you decide to do what you love, life gets better. Now, if I could just find a way to make some money, I can pay for the lollipops sitters that I’ll need.

Please check out Great New Books, join the club, like us on Facebook, and do whatever you do on Twitter.