We writers don’t believe anybody else truly understands what we’re going through. Writer’s block, giving a character personality, wrestling with conflict and plot…these are obstacles we don’t often discuss with friends. (Unless said friends are also writers, which is often not the case. Otherwise, you’re lucky.)

However, we fail to seek out others who share our pain, especially if they are not in our immediate circles (school, work, neighborhood).

What I’ve recently discovered is that being a part of a writing “community” can seriously help you improve. Whether you’re a part of a local critique group or connected with an online writing community, it’s important to stay “plugged in.”

I wondered for the longest time why I wasn’t getting any traffic on my blog. Two reasons: For a while, I neglected updating regularly. Also, I wasn’t visiting other blogs similar to my own.

There is much to learn from others. After feverishly (quite literally – I was actually very sick for several days) searching for other “teen writing blogs” and quickly subscribing to their RSS feeds, I suddenly felt encouraged and excited about my own writing. I didn’t stop there. I quickly noticed that many of the more successful blogs I subscribed to were blogs with other venues.

The author of the blog often had links to his/her Facebook page, Twitter account, or Tumblr. They reach wider audiences in this way, and in turn form relationships with other bloggers who have Facebook pages, Twitter accounts, and Tumblrs.

So I’ve decided to do the same. I’ve created an author Facebook page and a Twitter account. I’m not much of a Twitter fan (yet) but I really enjoy using Tumblr. The links to my various social media are located in the sidebar.

I didn’t write this post to ask you to subscribe, “like” my Facebook page, or follow me on Twitter and Tumblr. I wrote this post to let you know that I’ve decided to try something new – diving into this online community – because I think it’s going to work. That is, I think I’ll be surprised at the many advantages to connecting my social media and reaching out to other teen writers/bloggers. And I think it could work for you, too.