DANIELLE GIRARD GOES ROGUE: FINDING YOUR WRITING COMMUNITY

by | Nov 28, 2022 | Extraordinary Guest Bloggers, On writing | 6 comments

Gayle Lynds: What a thrill to welcome Danielle Girard! With 16 novels and an array of short stories, she’s a true writers’ writer, with books that keep you turning the pages, characters you want to take home with you, and large dollops of wisdom amid the electric suspense. No wonder Danielle hits the top of bestseller lists! Sit back and enjoy this inside take on the importance of writers finding their community (i.e., their “peeps). 

Danielle Girard:

Superb storyteller Danielle Girard

My first book, Savage Art, came out in August of 2000. The world had survived Y2K and I had an eight month-old, a full-time job in finance and was busy writing book two—mostly at night, after my daughter was asleep. Looking back, I can remember none of the details of those days or how I managed to get everything done. Thankfully, I had a lot more energy back then; I was only 29.

In many ways, that was the most solitary period of my life. As any mother knows, caring for an infant can be a lonely venture for the most confident of women and I was hardly that. And, of course, the writing was equally solitary. We write alone.

Ancient history for many, the early 2000s lacked so many of the incredible writer resources we have today. Facebook was still a toddler, Instagram, TikTok only a sparkle in the future’s eye. While I attended several in-person mystery writer conferences during those early years of my career, my imposter syndrome was a monster impossible to tame and the incredible and generous writers I met seemed too popular, too successful to understand what a neophyte like me experienced day to day. Surely they didn’t have doubts. They couldn’t possibly struggle over plot and unwieldy characters who refused to acquiesce to their commands. Look at them! They had it all together. Though I didn’t immediately find a community among thriller writers, I was lucky enough to meet a romance writer who invited me into her group of friends. For the first ten years of my career, San Francisco’s RWA (Romance Writers of America) was the local group I attended, their members my people. From those connections, I was lucky enough to meet Lisa Gardner who was just releasing her first thriller, The Perfect Husband.

Danielle's first suspense novel

In watching Lisa, I learned what it meant to be a career author. (I still don’t know anyone who works harder.) She helped me plot early books, guided me in those first contracts and let me cry (more than once) on her shoulder.

Fast forward 22 years, that 2000 baby is finishing college and she has a younger brother who is close to legal drinking age. What I would tell that baby writer in 2000 is: one, imposter syndrome, as most writers know, is a beast never truly tamed. The best we can do is become adept at not rising to her taunts. Two, most writers at every conference feel awkward. We are largely introverts with deep interior focus and being thrust into a group is both exhilarating and terrifying. Find one person. (Find me if I’m there!) Introduce yourself. Admit you’re nervous. I have a great suspicion that you’ll get a similar admission back. Or a story about that writer’s early conferences. Three, there is no one who will understand this part of your world like another writer. Not only do we want these people in our lives; we need them.

Today, my writing community includes people everywhere along the road of publication—from folks writing their first books to multi-award winning bestsellers. For the most part, they are equally excited and unsure. And, almost without fail, they are kind and willing to welcome new members into the fold.

Lisa Gardner's first suspense novel

Those conferences that once felt overwhelming and where I spent more time in my room than out of it are now a highlight of my year. Like being a new mom, being a writer is like falling into a raging river only half-prepared to swim.

Finding my writer community was a life raft… Though I’m sixteen books and twenty-something years in, my people are as important to me today as they were all those years ago. The best thing you can do for your writing journey is to find your people. They’re out there, I promise.

What about you, readers? What did it take for you to find your people?

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6 Comments

  1. Karna Small Bodman

    You’ve given us a very “familiar” glimpse into the whole “starting writer” syndrome. I remember when I was an aspiring thriller writer, going to conferences like Thrillerfest where I met so many successful authors, like Lee Child and our own Gayle Lynds, I received a ton of encouragement as well as direction at “Craft-Fest” and the panels. Also, you talk about writers being introverts at heart – which reminds me of a cartoon I saw in The New Yorker a long time ago. It showed a guy hunkered down at his “typewriter”, all alone, surrounded by books and papers. The caption read, “Definition of a writer – one who labors in complete seclusion for the benefit of communication.”

    • Jenny Milchman

      Could not have written this better! From the moment you start setting words on paper, until you reach Danielle’s, Lisa’s, and other greats’ stage of the game, you are a member of the club. In fact, newbies bring a unique, fresh perspective no one else can. We all need each other.

  2. Lisa Black

    This is so true. It’s hard to explain to non-writers why writing can be so hard and stressful—you’re sitting in a room putting words on paper, and if you suddenly stop, no one’s life will really change much—how can that be stressful? That’s why we need our fellow writers!

  3. Gayle Lynds

    Thanks, Danielle. It can feel so hard to find one’s writing community, but you’ve given excellent suggestions to go about it. We writers are strange ducks and it’s always seemed to me we need each other in profound ways.

  4. Tracy Clark

    LOVE this! Yes, find your people.

  5. Elle

    This is so encouraging to me. As a beginning author in the trenches of publishing my first thriller book, I am struggling to find my people. It doesn’t help that I live in a foreign country, but I am trying. Thank you for speaking to this AND to imposter syndrome which is growing with every step of editing I go through.