Writing is a Solitary Pursuit

     Amen to that. Writing is a solitary pursuit.
     But does it have to be?
     I've been examining that notion for a while now . . . as I sit alone at my computer and look out my window at the empty valley below . . . nice view, by the way, but I digress.
     What writers among us have mentors, people we interact with almost daily while we work on a new creation? I'm one of those more fortunate writers of full-length fiction who has a live-in mentor. And just today, we hashed out some of the finer points of a new novel that I'm about to start. We sat almost all the way through the final round of the U.S. Open and, instead of watching the tournament leaders blow putt after putt, we tossed ideas back and forth about protagonist motivation, general story line, character names.
     So, where's the solitary in that?
     But let's say, for the sake of argument, you don't have a live-in mentor. Well, how about finding a good friend, hopefully one who reads obsessively, who is interested in an author's creative process, and one who can keep a secret?
     That's your mentor.
     Now, all you have to do is find time to get together (with you paying for lunch), and spend the whole time talking about your project. Present your ideas, ask for honest input, and listen to what comes your way. Sometimes the weirdest input winds up being just what you need to flesh out that vapid character, or gives you the missing link that brings your story together at a crucial point.
     Oh, and one other thing. When you make the lunch invitation, make it clear up front that you'll be doing all the talking . . . that this is, in fact, a business lunch.
     Well, it's just an idea . . . .