Working alone.

Writing is solitary work. I write best in silence and alone. The best writing space I could have would be a cave with a desk, a comfortable chair and an internet connection. When I'm working on a draft, that draft is only for me. In some ways, its a part of me. It's not ready for the light of day. It needs to be left alone until its ready to crawl its way out of the cave.

Writing isn't for people who aren't comfortable with being alone. In crowded spaces and at social gatherings, I sometimes find myself pulled back to the work, thinking about characters or lines of dialogue. Even in public, the writer is often alone. That makes things even more difficult for the writer who needs help.

I've had a lot of great coaches in my life. Some of the best weren't technically proficient, but they knew how to motivate. They got inside your head and pressed some button that could make you jump higher, run farther, push through the pain. 

Few coaches would want to come into the writing cave. And if I found one who did, the truth is, they don't belong there. This is work done in isolation. The time for coaching has passed. Now it's time to sit down and attend to the task at hand.

But help is out there. I've found tremendous support in the works of other writers. Some of them have even been generous enough to blueprint their approach to the craft. I'm currently working through Stephen King's On Writing. Steven Pressfield's The War of Art and Turning Pro live on my desk like reference materials. Christopher Klim's Write to Publish got me through my first attempt at long-form fiction.

Support is available. But when the time comes, nobody is going into that cave with you. And nothing will ever crawl its way out if you don't go in there and do the work.