Competition, coattails, and colleagues

I was talking about an author I admire and Brian, my husband, asked, “Her writing’s great and all, but who’s she bringing up?”

I knew what he meant. He wanted to know who was riding her coattails. Who were the people she was encouraging to write and helping along the process? I named a couple of people, and he nodded with satisfaction.

Writing seems like a solitary pursuit. We hear stories about authors going into a cabin for months of quiet labor among the smell of fir trees. I’m not sure if things have changed, because I have always been a writer on the heel of things. (In other words people in publishing often point to 2008 as a time when everything shifted, and my first book came out at the end of 2007.) But I do know that it’s a collegial pursuit now. I have not always managed things well, but here are some things I’ve learned.