Learning to People

One of the biggest problems I've ever had to deal with is any situation that involves me having to work with other people in any form or fashion. Plain, sweet, and simple: I'm bad at it. I've always been very good at and enjoy working by myself. Working with other people involves having to accommodate and cooperate, things I've never really excelled with. However, I have realized very quickly that a writer is nothing without an audience. How could I ever hope to succeed as a career writer without having a community audience to support me and read my work? At least, this is how I see it. So, for the past month I've been doing all that I can to learn how to people.

I've always been a sort of solitary creature, preferring the quiet company of my cats to the companionship of other people, but I have been branching out! Since kicking off the start of my writing career this has been the biggest struggle I've faced so far. It's not in my nature to talk so much. It's not in my nature to be so open with things that are going on. It's definitely not in my nature to invite others to offer up input and advice. I'm used to doing everything my own way. Many a time I've told people to butt out and let me do things my way. I've learned, though, that that doesn't exactly work. Especially when it comes to the professional side of things concerning my launch. I'm not good at talking to people. I'm not good at advertising or "selling myself" to gain the support of other people.

To remedy this I asked a close friend for help. He has been a huge, totally indispensable part of helping to get my writing career off the ground. So far I have learned how to talk to people in a way that is more friendly and inviting than my normal demeanor, and I have been applying this both to the people I've been lucky enough to speak to online as well as people I have been reaching out to in person. I've also been making it a point to talk to strangers (safely, y'all! No such thing as stranger danger, just dangerous situations with strangers! Don't put yourself into any of those). From talking to people in line at restaurants, in the elevator, or walking between classes, to striking up conversation with fellow classmates before and after class, it's been weird for me to actually be attempting to be social.

Overall, this may not seem like much, but this will all be very important when I will have to talk not only to my audience, but publishers and editors as well. Learning to people (in other words, learning how to better be social) now will help me so much later down the line. Do any of you struggle with similar problems? What have you done to step out of your solo comfort zone? Any suggestions for me as I continue forward?