Art Show | written by: TESSA WEGERT
Connecticut authors Lynne (Liv) Constantine, Tessa Wegert, and Wendy Walker talk thrillers at a Darien Library event.
We’ve all heard it said: Art is a lonely endeavor. The artist in question could be a painter, composer, or novelist, but the impression is always same.
They work alone.
In some ways, that’s true. Five years into my career as an author, I can attest that about 90 percent of my time is spent in a self-imposed state of solitary confinement, conversing with fictional characters while I wear the finish off my laptop keys. There’s the drafting of the books, which takes months, but as soon as that’s done it’s time for revisions, editing, proofreading, plotting the next novel, and writing articles and essays to help promote the new release. Make no mistake, there’s an entire team of publishing professionals involved every step of the way, but even when writers embark on developmental edits or collaborate with a co-author, we always return to our desks solo.
That doesn’t mean we have to be lonely.
I don’t think I fully understood the importance of the writing community until my first mystery—Death in the Family—hit the shelves. It was February of 2020, and I was brand new to the author life with very few contacts and even fewer writer friends. Three weeks later, the pandemic shut down the libraries and bookstores where I’d planned to meet readers and my peers, and I found myself navigating the complex publishing ecosystem on my own.
Like many people at that time, I turned to social media, hoping it would make me feel connected to the world beyond my front door. On Instagram, readers bonded over books that were helping them cope with anxiety and stress by providing a figurative escape—and right there, in the comments, were the authors, engaging in conversations while posting positive book reviews of their own. Even as they struggled to meet deadlines during their most intense period of isolation yet, they befriended and supported other authors online, and I found myself wanting to do the same.
When the bookstores and libraries reopened, we authors were ready. We drove, sometimes for hours, to our new friends’ book launches to show our support. We interviewed each other at local independent bookstores to spread the word about our newest novels. Our desire for contact and mutual encouragement took us to writing conferences, where we’d meet still more authors and discuss opportunities to collaborate. From a coffee shop in Darien, fellow Connecticut thriller author Elise Hart Kipness and I launched Sisters in Crime CT, the first-ever Connecticut chapter of the national writing organization Sisters in Crime.
Fast-forward to this year, and nurturing the crime fiction writing community remains a top priority. I can’t speak about artistic communities beyond my own, but I can tell you that despite all those hours spent in seclusion, writing doesn’t have to feel like marooning oneself on a remote island. Communities exist both online and off to support authors at every stage of their careers, and maintaining strong connections only helps to make us stronger writers. We may live many states—and even countries—apart, but our respective time spent in isolation only brings us closer together.
If you’re a writer looking for a community of your own, check out Sisters in Crime CT (sincconnecticut.com) and International Thriller Writers/ITW (thrillerwriters.org),
and find me on Instagram at @tessawegert.
Raised in Quebec and now based in Darien, CT, Tessa Wegert writes the popular Shana Merchant mysteries, which include Death in the Family, The Dead Season, Dead Wind, The Kind to Kill, Devils at the Door, and the upcoming The Coldest Case. Her books have received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Shelf Awareness and have been featured on PBS and NPR Radio. Tessa is the co-founder of Sisters in Crime CT, a writing community for all crime fiction authors, and currently serves on the board of International Thriller Writers (ITW). She also teaches classes in mystery and thriller writing at Fairfield County Writers’ Studio. Learn more about her books at tessawegert.com.
