The Importance of Community
This past weekend, I went to my first UK Meet. Being a brand new author and still relatively new to the LGBT Romance community, I had no idea what to expect. I went in knowing exactly three things. 1. Two of my favourite authors were going to be at the meet. 2. I don’t do well in large crowds and 3. I knew absolutely no one.
I’ve been part of the LGBT Romance community for about eight months. In that time, I’ve set up social media pages and a website, and even gained a few ‘friends’ and ‘followers.’ I also published a book, but that’s actually beside the point. The point is that while I had Facebook friends and Twitter followers, I still felt very separate from the community.
During the UK Meet, I had the opportunity to attend a panel on self-publishing, which was led by Jay Northcote, RJ Scott, and both halves of K.A. Merikan. It was a fabulous panel all around, but something Jay said really stuck out to me. She said that one of the most important parts of being an indie author is to make connections. In her words, “it’s hard writing into a void.” She was so right. Even after I published, I felt incredibly isolated and not part of this community. Being at the UK Meet gave me that sense of belonging and acceptance that I’ve been looking for since I started writing. And it gave me the extra push to keep going.
To everyone I met at the UK Meet, you are all lovely, and I very much consider you friends now, and allies. People who understand what it’s like to write in the genre and who aren’t ashamed or afraid to do so. So really what I want to say is thank you for accepting me and encouraging me and getting to know me. I look forward to seeing you all again very soon.
