Today’s prompt is: 2. How do you stay in touch with far-away friends? But I’m gonna switch it up a little… (yes, already)
Since I don’t have many (read: any) local friends, I seem to find 99% of them online. More specifically, my social network is very much digital. While I have my facebook account, where the people I’m related to chatter about their lives and whatnot, I don’t follow many people I would term ‘friends’ there (of course, there are always a few exceptions). I also have a twitter account (where some of you may have found the link to this post), but again, not a bucket of people I would ‘fess up to calling friends.
So, who do I consider my friends? Well, I would say that the people in my writing groups are, technically, my best friends. I’m not leaving out my girlfriend, by any means… it’s just that I hope that y’all know that she’s a given (and part of the writing groups I’m talking about). When I say writing groups, I mean 2 of them. There’s no way in hell I could keep up with any more than that, and honestly, I get a bit stretched thin between them at times.
I’ll start with my Chatzy group first. It’s not the original group where I met Karli, but it’s using the same platform… so, a bit of nostalgia there. This group, lovingly named Bunch of Lunatics, has been a source of what I would call people closer to family than friends. While not as active as the other group, I’d have to say that I feel closer to them (probably being that more of them are closer to my age than not).
The second group, Paradise Keep, is solely based on Discord. This one has a lot of conversations (usually going on all at once), but is nice for the fact that there are separate rooms, each with their own topic. PK has quite a few younger members, so it’s a bit harder for me to relate to some of the discussions (I mean, c’mon… I graduated H.S. in ’90). This group also has a lot of people from the original Chatzy group where I met Karli, so there’s that kind of closeness associated with them.
As a writer, I would highly recommend finding a writing group or two to join. Not only is it a chance to meet people from all over the world, but there’s the common thread of ‘writing’ contained throughout… even when topics tend to sway wildly across the board. You get different viewpoints from different ages and genders. You get help from people who understand what you’re going through as a writer. There are bound to be people who go from complete pantser to complete plotter, and everything in between.
It’s difficult to keep a writing group going year round… especially when a large section of the group is only writing in November for NaNoWriMo. You might be able to find a few that’ll drift in during the 2 NaNo Camp sessions, too. But when you’ve got a few that’ll stick it out year after year, you can’t help but feel drawn to them in camaraderie (kinda like prisoners in a dungeon).
So, I guess I really did answer the original question after all. I stay in touch with my friends all over the world by having meaningful (and silly) discussions with them in chat rooms every day. We have serious talks. We get to make jokes and have fun. I get to participate in their lives just as much as they get to participate in mine. It’s a good trade-off, if you ask me. While I’d like to be able to have more local friends, I can say I’m really happy I have the friends in my writing groups.
(hopefully, a few of them will show up and say ‘hi’ here, so it doesn’t look like I’m totally lying about this whole blog post, too)
*He’s not lying.