How To Survive Being a Newb

Newb in the urban dictionary has two spellings and is divided into two classifications: Newb/newbie and noob/n00b. In the online gaming community, the former is a person who is new to the game and inexperienced, but willing to learn and improve. The latter is a person who is inexperienced, but doesn't try to improve, often saying and doing things to annoy and be a nuisance to other players. The term 'newb' can be applied to anyone new or inexperienced at a task or profession.

Being a newb in any profession is awkward and humbling. You're on a constant mission to collect information and experience so that you'll no longer be branded as the 'new guy'. Your best friend is anyone willing to share information and advice without teasing you for your ignorance. The only way to stop being branded a newb is to become competent and experienced in your profession...or to become more competent and experienced than the newest member of your team. (See how that works?)

Being a newb in the writing community shouldn't be as daunting as being a newb in the gaming community. This all depends on the people you surround yourself with. If you associate with people who tease you, berate you, or discourage you, your experience will be unpleasant and it may even turn you away from writing. You will encounter people like these, even if you're careful what blogs, forums, and websites you visit. The best thing to do when this happens is to ignore them and don't respond to their baiting. (If a person is consistently bothering you or others, chances are he's a troll and you don't want to 'feed' the trolls. Trolls don't respond to reason or logic, since their purpose is to see how angry they can make you.)

To survive being a newb in any community, writing included, you need to find a safe place to learn and mingle with like-minded people. Scout these out carefully through research, exploration, and recommendations from others. A good place (forum, website, coffeehouse, etc) will be where you spend most of your time interacting with the community, so you want to know your way around it, know the atmosphere and the people who frequent it. This will take time in itself, so the research beforehand is a good idea.

To start you out, here are a few recommendations from me. 

You can't go wrong with Alex J. Cavanaugh's Insecure Writers Support Group. They have a monthly blog hop where you can meet and mingle with other writers going through the same hurdles you are. You can also find them on Facebook (groups) and Twitter.

There are many hashtag chats on twitter where you can make helpful connections. The two I've been a part of are #kidlitchat (Tuesdays at 9pm EST), and #storycrafter (Sundays at 3pm EST). Storycrafter is a light, fun chat with writerly themes in Q&A format. It's open to all genres.

Finally, there's the Writers Chatroom which has topic chat Sundays at 7pm EST and open chat Wednesdays 8pm EST. The room is only open during scheduled chat times, but the people there are helpful and good at answering writing questions.

Once you've found a place, be friendly, humble, and willing to learn. These are the best qualities a newb could have to propel her out of newb status to leet. Take part in things, reach out to others, don't be afraid to try. If you fail in front of helpful people, they'll support you and encourage you to try again. Seek out someone who could become a good friend, a guide to the profession and its community or even someone just starting out like you. If you're blessed enough to find a mentor who knows the whole thing inside-out, that's great. Never turn down advice from someone who knows more than you do. You might not be able to use it now, but it's good to know for later.

To recap, this is How to Survive Being a Newb:

1. Find a safe place to mingle and learn
2. Be friendly, humble, and willing
3. Make a friend
4. Listen to advice (and thank them for it)
5. Don't be afraid to try 

 If you have advice or recommendations for other newbs, please share it in the comments.

One Secret to Writing Success

A hearty welcome to Jodi Carmichael, today's guest blogger. She is the author of two fantastic books for young people--Spaghetti is Not a Finger Food and Forever Julia, which was recently nominated for a Manitoba Book Award. Today, she shares one of the secrets of her success.

* * * * * * * * * 

They say it takes a village to raise a child and I say it takes a writing community to raise an author.
I have said that repeatedly, because I strongly believe that behind many successful authors is a strong support group of fellow writers. I can’t help but look at my writing group, The Anita Factor, for proof of my hypothesis. When we first met we were all unpublished developing writers. Less than 6 years later and between us, we have 9 books published, with 6 of those titles released in the past 18 months. Last time I checked, we have 2 more under contract.

What is the secret of that success?

Support. Commiseration. Furthering our writing craft through ongoing education.
Surrounding yourself with others who share the same love of writing, makes you feel like you are a part of a team in what truly is a solitary endeavor. These are the folks who will celebrate with you over coffee, wine, or Chocolate Sin Cake on landing your first magazine article. They will also help drown sorrows and lift spirits when the 4th, 10th, or 21st, “No, we’d rather not” letter on your 150,000 word World War 1/sci-fi/zombie romance pops into your letter box.

When the rejections are flying in faster than a chocolate addict can inhale an extra-large Belgian chocolate bar, your writing support team is there to encourage you to go back to your desk/coffee shop/cave and work harder.

Writing groups are particularly good, if you follow a format that not only gives you a sense of belonging, but also offers useful feedback on your work as well as an opportunity to further educate yourself on the craft of writing. Sharing tips, techniques, and articles about style, grammar, voice, writing tools, resources, conferences, workshops, publishing are just some of the “teaching component” of my writing group.

How to run a critique group session ala The Anita Factor:

This is how a regular meeting of The Anitas goes down:

•  Every second Thursday, we Anitas meet in McNally Robinson Bookstore where we get tucked away amongst the stacks. (This is truly the best bookstore in all the land. So says me.)
•  We rotate the role of leader and that person keeps us aware of time, leads the “teaching component”, and ensures all who want to read their work for critique get a chance.
•  We begin - somewhat promptly at 7:00.
•  The Anita in charge shares a topic. This can be on anything related to writing such as; writing craft, publishing, marketing, or presentation skills. We’ve discussed voice, POV, plot structure, grammar, social media, book launches, networking, publishing, query letters – everything and anything.
•  Next, if you have work to share, you read a short section – no more than 4 pages – double spaced. Each writer states the type of feedback they seek. Sometimes it is a general, “Does this work?” and other times a writer is seeking quite specific critique like, “Is my lead character’s voice consistent?”   
•  We then work around the circle giving our thoughts. We strive to always provide some positives which can be words or phrases that are stand outs or characters that are perfectly crafted, as well as any sections that may not be working well and need to be rewritten. Often, we point out what we call “heads up moments.” That is when we hear something that is so abrupt or out of place in the writing that it pops our heads out of the story. These can be either minor, like a word that is from the wrong era in a historical fiction, or major like a section of text that contradicts something already established in a previous chapter.
•  Once all readings have been complete we share our writing news; the good, the bad, and the horribly ugly. Many nights this is done in The Prairie Ink Restaurant over a deep and deliciously baked masterpiece.  

Where to find a writing group:

•  Writing associations often have member boards where you can find other writers in your genre. A full list of organizations can be found here at Writers and Editors: http://www.writersandeditors.com/major_writers_organizations_57410.htm. 
•  Attend conferences and network to find like minds. 
•  Join your local writing guild. They often run writing group sessions.
•  Consider an online writing group.

Good luck and keep on writing!

Thank you for the great advice, Jodi! You can learn more about Jodi and her books at her blog, Writing . . . and Other Life Lessons.