Writing: It takes a village?

WANTED: Crit partner who loves 

YA contemporary, comedy, and romance, and 

who will kick my butt daily.

Here's the thing about the publishing process. You may be high now, but your next low is only a page away. I don't say this to be a Debbie Downer. It's true! I can't tell you how much I celebrated selling the book, finishing the first draft, finishing revisions, finishing revisions again, and finishing revisions AGAIN ... but because we never write just one book, we inevitably find ourselves back at the dreaded bottom of the hill, pushing that first draft up up up, sweating and screaming and crying the whole way.

(What, you don't hate first drafting?)

I read about authors out there who are more disciplined than Navy Seals, rising bright and early for breakfast, then parking their butts at their computers until lunchtime. I hear these people don't even check their email. THEIR EMAIL! Who are these people, and what part of their brain did they have to get removed in order to be this disciplined?! And do you think my insurance will cover such an operation?

You see, I'm ... well ... not that disciplined. I have a hard time waking up in the morning, and I have a hard time not checking email, then Twitter, then Tumblr ... then checking them all over again. I have a hard time not watching JUST. ONE. MORE episode of Bones. I have a hard time ... well, I just have a hard time. And I think the answer to this is ...

PEER PRESSURE

So I'm looking for two things.

1) Some awesome crit partners or motivational virtual writing buddies. Via Email, Twitter, Facebook, or blog comments, let's connect and cheer each other on as we work to get through this messy business of first drafting. And once that evil first draft is in the bag, we can help one another shape and mold until we have a serviceable book in our hands.

2) A writing group. Anyone in the Boston area want to meet up and not talk? Well, maybe talk a little, but mostly sit at the same table and force one another to really crank out a word count. I love writing at the Cambridge Public Library, which has parking AND is T accessible. The main floor has great big tables and they don't require you to be silent there, so it could be the perfect place to work as a group.

If you'd like a little peer pressure in your life (the good kind, anyway), then leave a comment here. Let me (and the readers) know a little bit about what you write and where you are in the process, and maybe a Twitter or email contact. Let's see if we can't get something going, so that pretty soon we're all back at the top of the hill, waving our finished novels over our heads and dancing and cheering. Sound good? I think so!