It's human nature to want to belong to the pack. Practically hardcoded in our DNA to seek out social interaction from the day we are born. Animals feel it too. The urge to become part of a larger group, even when it results in a pecking order. Lions are known to live and hunt in groups called prides. Guided by the wisest alpha male, these prides of lions can maintain generations of family members through tight bonds and familiar relationships. This writing community is like that pride of lions.
We take care of the new cub writers and help them assimilate into the larger group. Through nature and nurture we welcome our newest members into the community. We smile at their first hesitant steps because we well remember our own first steps on this path to publication. We nudge and encourage until one day we see those new writers begin to grow into their writer's voice.
Wisdom comes with time and lessons are learned along the way. Soon those newbies aren't cubs anymore, but young authors who carve their own path in the writing wilderness. Sometimes they challenge the leaders of the day with various outcomes, but it is done for the greater good of the group and leaders can change with the seasons.
I look around this writing community and realize I am no longer that newborn cub who gazes in wonder around her. I am a member of a pride of writers who are fiercely loyal to their own. I am still young on this journey and have much still to learn. I am comforted by the knowledge others are watching over me. Ready and willing to lend a helping hand and offer words of support as I grow into the writer I was meant to be. Take pride in your pride for nowhere else will you find a family quite like this one.
Run with the pack and enjoy the ride...unless, of course, you are that lone wolf with something to howl about...
