never in the in crowd

I hear all the time that if you want to be a writer, you need to network. You need to be in groups. You need to get to know people, and I have and I tried, but somehow I feel transported back in the times of high school. 

I wonder if I will ever outgrow the notion of cliques. You have the "rock stars". They are the people that can do no wrong. They are cool. They have achieved, and you admire them for their talent and their spunk. You have the brainiacs who are your best editors and critique partners you can think of. You have your cliques of people that are just like a tight family, and no matter how lovely and inviting you are, you know you're still a stranger. The foundation hasn't been built. 

And then there are the blogs. I love reading the blogs, but at the same time, every time I want to comment, someone else just discussed the same topic, or it sounds superficial, or worse. I have grammatical errors and type-o's on someone's blog... someone I truly admire. 

But just like high school, I wonder if anyone truly feels like they belong. My solution is to go with the flow. I'll do my thing. I'll meet new people. I get to know them, and admire them. There's always something to learn and appreciate in other's. Someday I will have my group. Whether I turn out to be a rockstar or a braniac, I just want to be happy doing the things I love. 

Oh... and I took a wise friend's advice. I stopped checking my ranking on the contest site. It was driving me crazy and mental health is worth so much more than a contest. I'm going to let the writing speak for itself because when it boils down to it, that's all that matters.