I just spent a wonderful week on a cruise with some of my favorite authors (some of whom are Faithchicks!) We planned a writers’ conference on a cruise ship which went to Jamaica and Grand Cayman. Meeting on sea days and playing on port days was the perfect mix. It’s always good to be surrounded with other authors—it helps you remember that there are others who think like you do (creative, absent-minded, quirky among other things!) It’s also an opportunity for many spouses to meet their peers and assure themselves that they all have the same problems and pleasures of living with a writer.

We all need peers from whom we can learn and grow. We need to be part of a tribe of people who hold similar interests and speak the same language. This isn’t true just for writers. We all need those kind of people in our lives.

And now I have to play catch-up for all those things that didn’t get done while I was away…

Judy Baer