Guest Blogger, author Chris Lindberg

Writing Friends
A guest post by Chris Lindberg
As a writer, how often do you find yourself encountering writer’s block, second-guessing your decisions as you create, having trouble finding the right word, or just plain wondering “is this story going to be any good when I’m done with it?”
If you’re like me, it happens at least once every time you sit down to write. Luckily, most of the time we can dig ourselves out of these ruts: after all, we are writers, and the worlds we’re creating are our own, right? But on those rare occasions where the rut is just too deep, your solution just might be to find a good writing pal.
A few years ago, I was taking a writing class, creating character studies for what would ultimately be two of the main characters in my debut novel, Code of Darkness. One of the characters was Mira Givens, a twenty-something social worker who’d recently moved from her small hometown to the big city, and makes the fateful decision to befriend a loner who turns out to be the target of a covert Federal manhunt. I wanted her to be tough and resourceful for the rigors my story was going to put her through, but also a believable character: I didn’t want her to be Wonder Woman or Lara Croft. And of course she had to be a character the readers were going to care about.
Luckily, my studio class provided a forum for my fellow writers and I to bounce ideas off one another. And outside of the sessions, a few of us would get together to help each other through some of the challenges we faced with our projects. All this resulted in not only Mira becoming more fleshed out as a character, but many of the other main characters benefited as well.
For most of us, writing is a solitary act – we tend to have our best, most creative thoughts when we’re alone, undistracted by other voices or opinions. But having a writing friend or two can definitely help get you over those humps you just can’t get over on your own. And they don’t always have to be writers: my wife, who claims she doesn’t have a creative bone in her body, gave me more ideas than she’d probably ever take credit for.
So the next time you find yourself in a writing rut you can’t get out of, reach out to a writing friend and bounce an idea or two off of them. I’ll bet you’ll be happy you did.
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Chris Lindberg’s first novel, Code of Darkness, was released in August. You can find out more by visiting www.codeofdarkness.com, or visiting Facebook and searching on “code of darkness.”
To purchase Code of Darkness in paperback or e-book edition, please check out: http://www.lulu.com/browse/search.php?fListingClass=0&fSearch=code+of+darkness
Or search “code of darkness” on Amazon or BN.com.
You can also email him at chris@codeofdarkness.com – he’d love to hear from you.