So many of you responded to my New Year’s Eve request to share what you learned about writing in 2009. Collectively, we’ve learned much—about technique, publication, generosity, acceptance, and the importance of sitting ass in chair. We've learned about reaching out and reaching in, the importance of community, and what to do when the words won't come. I’ve culled my 10 favorite lessons, gleaned from your wisdom. I invite you to peruse the original posts, linked to below, for much, much more! 1. Novelist/nonfiction writer Daphne Uviller: "Instead of being embarrassed by my various random, messy ways of pseudo organizing characters, plot lines, and ideas, I decided to accept this chaotic mix as My Method. It’s amazing what capital letters will do to validate one’s habits." 2. Fiction/nonfiction writer Renate Stendhal: "What I learned in my first-ever blog is that without She Writes I would not have put on my roller-blades! 25 blog posts later I can say it was/is great fun and also sad, inspiring and crushing with loneliness, a sweet connector with others and a questionable ego-trip, spontaneous and belabored, playful and dutiful, pure game and serious work...In short, everything writing is in itself, just in a different form of play." 3. Writer/publisher Lindsay Price: "The future of publication is community and communication. And a lot of that community and communication is going to happen online." 4. Poet Nancy White: "Helping others with the writing dilemmas, writing projects, writing pursuits always bears fruit if you do it with real generosity (not in the nefarious spirit of 'Hmmm, maybe networking will help me sell more stuff')." 5. Poet Diane Lockward: "Simply congratulating someone on his or her new book is not enough. I will buy as many collections by other poets as I can afford. I will spread the word." 6. True crime writer Mardi Link: "Think Broad. No, I'm not talking about the likes of husky-voiced, rocket-bra-wearing women of old, but rather the reach of your writing. The difference between a story (that can mean fiction, non-fiction, poetry even) that lives on and one that just takes a short breath and fades is tying our experiences to the larger world. Our writing is a portal, but we have to reach out sometimes, and not always just reach in." 7. Fiction/screenwriter Holli Castillo: "Seeing your book in print for the first time is more than just motivation to keep writing, but also validation for the piece of your life you give up in order to write." 8. Fiction writer/memoirist Louise Nayer: "That even though a part of me would have loved to share my finished, published book with my parents when they were alive, that their deaths (at 91 and 93 after good, long lives) gave me a certain freedom." 9. Blogger/poet Gwyn McVay: "Treasure prompts or ideas given to you, whether on purpose, accidentally, or both…. Don't defriend words that are new to the dictionary, or reject new formats out of hand." 10. Fiction writer/memoirist E. Victoria Flynn: "Take showers or go to sleep: Apparently my muse likes to be clean and well rested. I've learned that there are times it's best just to walk away and let it ferment." Thank you to everyone who posted. Here's to absorbing these lessons--and many more--in 2010. And don’t forget to read our fearless founder Kamy’s “5 Things I Learned about the Publishing Business This Year”!