Friends don't let friends write alone. That's been my motto ever since becoming a writer. I would never have finished my dissertation, never have started my first book, never have finished my second without the support of female friends--who happened to be writers themselves--sitting across from me in Starbucks or wherever, keeping me company mind, body, and soul.

So when Kamy Wicoff tapped me in March of this year to help her launch a new venture to connect women readers and writers, and women writers with each other, it took me all of three seconds to say: YES! Count me in.

Introducing: SHE WRITES.

I am excited as hell to find ways to use this site together. Writers are rarely "just writers." in this economy in particular, we all are needing to be that much more entrepreneurial in our approach to sustaining our writing lives, that much more supportive of each other in our shared visions and endeavors. It was Virginia Woolf of course who said that in order to write a woman needs 500 pounds and a room of her own. These days, it requires far more than that.

I like to think of SHE WRITES as a virtual and collective room of our own--a space where we can help each other be, become, and stay the writers we want to be, and still eat. I'm looking forward to bringing the many things that I've been doing as "Girl w/Pen"--coaching other writers, teaching academics how to translate their prose for trade, leading workshops on how to write book proposals and how to blog--to a broader audience through SHE WRITES. And I'm eager to help others who offer services that support writers and writing do the same.

To be a successful author in today's shifting publishing landscape--and in this age of social media, love it, hate it, or tweet it--requires a new set of skills. We learn them in increments. We learn them as we go. "See one, do one, teach one" is my second motto of choice. Let's figure it out together. Let's not let fellow women writers struggle alone.