Purple Hearts

If you have ever had the great opportunity to attend a workshop or hear a speech delivered by Susan Elizabeth Phillips, you have probably at one time or another heard her give reference and thanks to “The Chili Babes” - a tried and true group of writers and friends (not necessarily in that order) who have seen each other through years of professional and personal ups and downs. When I have heard these shout outs to The Chili Babes, I have always sat in the audience wishing that I, too, had a support and care and encouragement crew that I could call my own.

Having just celebrated my fifth aniversary as an RWA member, I am happy to have finally found some of those like-minded writers and am grateful to now be a part of two such groups. One of them is right here with the Purple Hearts! (Hi, too, Sporkies!)

The three of us Heartlettes could not make it to the RWA National Conference this year and, accepting this fate months in advance, we planned our own little get-away - called, as Meg dubbed it, the First Annual Purple Hearts Con-treat. Part conference, part retreat, it was our chance to get away from the day-to-day and have the time and space to work on the aspects of our writing that we wanted to address most.

As with most good times, the con-treat went too quickly. Three writers . . . Three friends . . . Yes, we did socialize and have fun but we worked, too. Much more than I, admittedly, thought we would.

I feel great about what I accomplished and what I learned, but I think one of the best things I took away from the con-treat is a better sense of what I need to do to create my writing life going forward - mentally and physically. Bria and Meg have been great in getting me on track and helping me stay there, and, if nothing else, a weekend away with them was a great reminder of what we’re trying to accomplish and why.

So in this week’s blog post I want to give a shout out to my fellow Purple Hearts, with sincere thanks for being my support and care and encouragement crew. Someday I hope to be up at that podium with the chance to thank you in front of our RWA colleagues, and maybe I’ll inspire someone in the audience to go out and find her crew, just like SEP did for me.

As an aside, I recommend attending anything being presented by Susan Elizabeth Phillips. Even if it’s a reading of the yellow pages.

-Jessica