There’s something to be said for time spent involved in an activity.  When I was skydiving there were folks who came into the sport and hit the ground running and had hundreds of jumps in their first year and thought they knew a lot about the sport.  But truth is, there was a lot they didn’t have a clue about because they didn’t have any experience with the history of the sport, they hadn’t been around to see enough.

Time spent in an activity leads to a slow accumulation of knowledge and contacts that no amount of fervid interest can match.

As I continue in this writing journey I find that I pick up a little bit of knowledge here and a new contact there and that over time it slowly starts to build into something real and substantive.

I was thinking about this a bit today when I was e-mailing a writer friend. We’re going to be selling our books at a local sci-fi con in March (Starfest for the curious).  We met through a local writer’s group that I’m no longer part of, but I realized that I’d made that connection by being part of that group for a bit.  And I became a member of that group by attending the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers conference four years ago and participating in a small group critique with a couple of writers who were members and suggested I check it out.

One little step led to a connection led to another step led to another connection led to another step.

Little by little it slowly starts to build on itself.

Another weird example…Last year I attended two conferences I hadn’t attended before and made a handful of great new friends.  This year I was thinking of attending Worldcon since it’s going to be pretty close to Denver, but I was a bit intimidated.

Who was I to go?  I don’t know anyone there and I’d probably just get lost in the crowd.

But…

Turns out all those little steps I’ve taken over the last four years have led to something.

One of my local writing friends will be there with a handful of people I’ve already met. As will at least two of my friends from the conferences I attended last year.  And who knows who else that I’ve already met here or there?

Again, one little step leads to one connection leads to another step leads to….?

So, looks like I’m going to take that next little step this year and attend my first Worldcon.  And next year?  Maybe I check Finland off my list of countries to visit.  (And Estonia and Russia, because if you’re that close, why not?)