So, I’ve been gone. We covered that. Move along. I’m not one to go too deep or personal, so let’s just say life happened while my writing sat patiently and waited, and now I’m back.

Plus, I am surrounded by a kick-ass support network of writer friends. My ultimate life support. This little tribe of ours has survived a lot that’s been thrown at us over the four-plus years we’ve been meeting each Wednesday.

Bad Stuff: Cancer. Loss. Surgeries. Aging parents. Spawn. Unemployment. Rejection.

Good stuff, too: Agents. Book Deals. Multiple-book Contracts. Self-Pubbing. New jobs. Spawn. Contest Finals. Contest Wins. New Members.

We run the full gamut here with our #WIPcrack crowd. Yes, we do. And we weather it together, good and bad. I’d truly be lost without these women.

Which is why when life puts writing on hiatus, I am blessed for the safety net that my Wednesday #WIPcrackers provide. For the coffee and brainstorming in the two hours we set life aside to be writers. Or to vent. Or to cry. Or to celebrate. They are there for me, and I for them.

Writing is a solitary beast. (I’m not unveiling any new revelation here. It is what it is.) But it doesn’t have to be. Sure, hunker down in your writing cave and pound out the chapters, but every once in a while, it’s refreshing to come up for air. And coffee. Always coffee.

Writing can also be communing with good people. Good, solid people. Who hear voices in their head and take dictation.

And if that last sentence gave you no pause, then you are a true writer. Come. Sit. Have some coffee. You are welcome here.