Guest Post by Rachel Wilder - Isolation

Writing in Isolation

by Rachel Wilder

It’s a well known fact that writing is a solitary occupation. Isolating even. But some of us are more isolated than others. Like Naomi, I’m pretty much alone in my area. She’s probably a little more isolated than I am though, geography-wise. I do have an ACFW chapter two hours away, but the price of gas makes it incredibly difficult to justify going to the meetings since I’m the only member who writes trade length historical romance.

I joined ACFW in January, 2007. It was such a thrill to be surrounded by so many other people who know what it’s like to argue with the people in your head. And lose. While the online companionship was awesome and I made friends right away, I still felt isolated because I had no other writers to talk to face-to-face. And no other writers who understood and shared my burning desire for European historical settings.

Enter Therese Stenzel in April, 2007. She announced the formation of a sub-group just for those of us who wrote about England and Europe. Sign me up! I was one of the very first members of His Writers (not to be confused with the Denver ACFW chapter of the same name). See, I have this undying obsession with Russian history. I own more non-fiction about Russia than any other subject, though Louisiana in the 1860’s is now running a close second.

Immediately I had a “home”. Every writer in the group understood my frustration with prairie settings and the West, and shared my desire to see setting no longer be a deterrent to making a sale. We all bonded immediately over our shared loves.

We’re not a big group. We don’t have a lot of “rules”. We have a lot of fun together. All online. It’s every writer’s dream for support. We laugh and cry together, brainstorm, ask stupid, crazy, ridiculous questions. Rely on each other’s expertise in a given setting or era, try to figure out the English title system and make contest entries bleed.

But above all else, we’re a band of sisters, of prayer warriors and shoulders to cry on. I’m almost on the other side of the darkest two years of my life, and I never would have survived without my HW sisters. Many of them know the ugly details of what I’ve been through and held me up as I dealt with it all.

We get together at the ACFW conference every year and it’s always a joy. We sit together in classes when we see a fellow member. We cheer over contract news. We celebrate every milestone, no matter how small and seemingly insignificant. When I finished my first novel last summer they were some of the first to know. Without their support and encouragement I would not be sitting here writing this blog post, or shopping my manuscript.

Just because you live in an area where there are no writers to fellowship with doesn’t mean you have to remain isolated. Online friendships are real. The group has grown and changed in the five years since it began. We’ve gained members and lost members. But above all, we’re a group of sisters. Naomi and I aren’t the only members geographically isolated. That’s part of what makes our group so wonderful. We get it, on so many levels, how hard it sometimes is to be a writer.


Rachel Wilder - A born and bred Southern belle and lifelong resident of Louisiana, Rachel writes historical romance set in the 18th and 19th centuries. Her love of historic fashion and needlework covers these eras.  You can visit Rachel at www.rachelwilder.net