Here are some of my indie writer/creativity writing peeps. I haven’t had close personal contact with all of them, but I consider them “peeps” because they have shared themselves with me through their writing and taught me about making a creative life.
The first of these is Elora Ramirez, also known as Elora Nicole. She writes YA novels that rock hard. But she’s top of my list because she’s the creator of The Coterie (a writing group of women who have become my favorite community to be part of) and the author of Indie Confidence. Those of us in The Coterie received a PDF review copy of Indie Confidence because it was based on the “curriculum” we had gone through as part of the program. I can’t tell you enough how much it means that she put all this together in one comprehensive bible of indie publishing. I will do an official review for this blog since I haven’t done it yet. But I HIGHLY recommend you check out the Table of Contents to see if her content rocks your world. It might make the idea of indie publishing a little less threatening. Who knows what kinds of doors might open?
I did do an official review for Andi Cumbo-Floyd’s Discover Your Writing Self: 31 Days to Deeper Understanding of Who You Are as a Writer. This isn’t specifically for those of us living with disabilities and/or chronic illnesses, but I was struck by how relevant it seemed. We can’t necessarily follow strict routines or advice about how to get things done, because our bodies don’t always cooperate with us. Sometimes we’re in too much pain to worry about writing on a specific day or in a specific way. Sometimes we can’t even get out of bed. Andi gives us the tools to figure out what we need to be creative. It’s one heck of a gift.
I never wrote a review of Rebecca Patrick-Howard’s From Welfare to Bestseller. Rebecca told her story in such a way that I respected her work even before I read it. She made herself as much of a local name as she could by making connections in her community at fairs and festivals. She did a lot of footwork that many of us could learn from. Chronic illness slowed her down, but she learned how to work with it and work around her limitations. She made it all work. I think I’m going back to read that one again before I review it officially for y’all.
I am re-reading a book that almost slipped my mind when I was thinking about the authors and books I wanted to include in this post. I think I’m going to finish the book before I tell you all about it. This wasn’t supposed to be a long series, but I’m having fun writing these posts so I will keep going tomorrow.
Finding Our Voices Together 