Posted on by Richard La Rosa

On Cultivating Other Writers As Friends —

Writing flourishes in a supportive community.

When I say “cultivating” other writers as friends, I mean both acquiring and nurturing those relationships.

Writing is a solitary endeavor—just you, the page, and your thoughts. But writers cannot thrive in total isolation. Having other writers as friends is not just beneficial—it’s essential. They provide insight, encouragement, and a shared understanding of the writing life that non-writers simply can’t offer.

Jordan Rosenfeld, author of How to Write a Page-Turner and Fallout, was asked in Writer’s Digest what she can’t live without in her writing life. She answered:

“Other writers, both as friends and critique partners, and for the books they write. I recommend this too, because it’s not wise to rely on our spouses or family members or non-writing friends. As for other writers-as-authors, they teach me and entertain me. I read voraciously and widely and am always learning something about my own craft as I go.”

Writers have a unique perspective on written language. They obsess over sentence structure, argue about Oxford commas, and analyze character arcs and narrative tension. A good writer friend understands why we agonize over a single paragraph. They’ll listen to our story ideas, help us untangle plot problems, and tell us the radically honest truth—kindly but firmly—when something isn’t working.

Beyond critique, writer friends offer motivation. Writing can be lonely and discouraging. Self-doubt lurks in the creases of every turn of the page. A supportive community reminds you that struggling with a draft doesn’t mean you’re failing—it means you’re writing. Other writers celebrate your wins, commiserate over rejections, and push you to keep going.

And then there’s reading. Writers need to read widely, and writer friends introduce us to books we might never pick up otherwise. They expand our understanding of craft, inspire new ideas, and remind us why storytelling matters in the first place.

Cultivating friendships with writers isn’t just about networking, it’s about camaraderie.

Writing is a long road trip, and it’s better traveled with company.

Posted on by Richard La Rosa

On Overcoming Obstacles And Simply Writing —

Discipline, not excuses, makes a writer.

“In the imagination and dreams of people who are cut off from the world, words are ballet dancers. – Jean-Dominique Bauby (1997)

If you think that writing is too difficult, that you don’t have enough time, or that you’re not in the right mindset, consider Jean-Dominique Bauby. He wrote an entire book, one letter at a time, by blinking his left eye.

Monsieur Bauby was a journalist for Elle magazine, a man who lived fast and reveled in the glam world of fashion and media. Then, at the age of 43, the life he cherished vanished in a tragic twist of fate. He suffered a massive stroke that left him with locked-in syndrome—fully conscious, completely paralyzed, unable to speak, move, or even breathe without assistance. The only part of his body he could control was his left eyelid.

That single functioning eyelid became his writing tool. A transcriber would hold up a card with the French alphabet, beginning with the most frequently used letters. When they reached the letter he wanted, he would blink—one letter at a time. Those letters slowly formed words, which then evolved into sentences. Using this painstaking method, he composed an entire 132-page memoir—some 200,000 blinks in total.

The result was The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, a beautifully written, concise meditation on memory and imagination—and a harrowing account of being trapped inside his own inert body. It became a bestseller and remains one of the most remarkable literary achievements in history.

Whenever I feel like writing is too much of a chore or when I tell myself I don’t have time, I think about this extraordinary writer. He had a legitimate excuse not to write, but he refused to pity himself. “Other than my eye, two things aren’t paralyzed: my imagination and my memory,” he wrote. Each morning, he felt “a supreme pleasure—that of being Jean-Dominique Bauby.”

If Jean-Do could write under those conditions, what legitimate excuses do the rest of us have?