And Now A Special Guest Spot from Ava Easterby aka Journey of Jordanna East

y husband and I live near Cooper River. It’s kind of pretty, a lovely place for a quick drive, jog, bike ride, etc. During the good weather months, I often set up shop there and write. The only thing that distracts me is the wild life. The flocks of geese, pecking away at the grass. The squirrels, flitting up and down nearby tree trunks and leaping from branch to branch overhead. The majestic white herons that stand statuesque along the river’s edge. Then there are the hawks.

At least, I think they’re hawks. You see, they soar so high above everything else that I don’t really know “for sure” that that’s what they are. I just know from their size and pattern of flight that they’re some kind of bird of prey. And I wish, just once, they would descend from their highest of heights so I can catch a fair glimpse of them.

They remind me of (some) accomplished writers. (That’s right, I’m going somewhere with this. Thanks for sticking with me!) You know, those writers (cough, Sue Grafton, cough, Jodi Picoult, cough) that forget that no matter what road a writer chooses, the journey is still difficult. Yet, they decide to separate themselves from the up-and-comers, choosing instead to fly near the clouds, looking down on the rest of us. They don’t fill their blogs with tips for the rest of us, they don’t follow you back on Twitter. They don’t even respond when you direct message them about how much you loved their book and can’t wait for the next installment. Rude!

Suddenly, the hawk doesn’t seem so great does it? But the geese? The geese are starting to look damn good. They stay together. A couple of them keep “look-out” while the others are burying their bills in the grass. Another one bravely leads them across the street, halting traffic. (Surprisingly, I’m not bothered by this.) This is how the writing community should be. I’m not just talking about Indie Authors either. A writer is a writer. We should stick together. We should stay humble. We should help each other across the dangerous road of being an author.

Bio: Jordanna East is currently working on her first novel, Blood in the Paint, as well as its prequel novella, Blood in the Past, due out in March 2013 (with the novel to follow in Summer 2013). She lives in New Jersey with her awesome-sauce husband and their freakish love of sports. As you can see, Jordanna also enjoys boiling everything down to a hokie metaphor about water fowl.