You gotta have friends

Oct 9, 2008 | Celebrations, Fun | 7 comments

Yesterday, I met several friends for lunch at a local restaurant. Little did that lunch crowd, mostly comprised of engineers and assorted military types, realize that five creative women sat at a table in their midst talking about books, contracts, agents, and due dates that had nothing to do with babies.

The best of all possible worlds is when a writer has writer friends. The things we talk about! There was a discussion of sex toys that started when we discussed a particular author and her use of odd things in her books. One of our number had never heard of this particular implement, so we had to whisper it, and describe it, which turned hilarious when we glanced around to make sure no one was listening.

At least we didn't discuss how to hide the body, which sometimes happens. Or whether to simply kidnap someone instead of kill them. But this wasn't a gathering of suspense writers, so we didn't really go there.

I needed that time away from the computer, and I cherish it. It was a great lunch — we laughed and talked a lot. Two ladies had to go back to work, but three of us stayed for another 2.5 hours. We originally got together to celebrate my sale, and I'm so happy they wanted to do that. But really, sale or not, it's just fun to get together with people who think like I do — who get lost in their heads, who think it's perfectly acceptable to talk about characters like they are real people, and who are serious about what they do. It helps keep me sane, I swear. 🙂

Do you have writer friends you love to get together with? Do you talk about crazy things? Do you need that connection from time to time? If you don't have writer friends close by, what do you do to decompress? And if you aren't a writer, what do you and your friends talk about when you get together? What is the one big thing you have in common?