Tuesday, February 12, 2013

The Love of Writing Friends


Around this time two years ago, I was writing alone. Writing alone and timidly stepping into the blogging world by visiting Seekerville and the wild and crazy women there. That is where I met my friend Pepper Basham. She was also writing alone and not so timidly stalking the Seekerville gals.
(Pepper here: Yes, I'm a stalker...and I was LONELY)
Yes indeed, she was lonely. Or so she told me when she emailed me. I couldn't find her original email, but here is one of early emails from her....should I have been afraid?

A touch of insanity goes a long way---that's all I'll say.
Oh, it's so good to find a similar soul. Bless God.
Not that your insane, I'll let you make that admission on your own ;-)....Pepper
Hhhhmmm, a friend who thinks I'm insane. I love her!!!!!!!!!!! 
(Pepper here: The above statement is still very true. Kindred spirits are allowed to be as crazy as they like, you know)

I love how God puts two souls together who have similar backgrounds (we are both minister's wives) and who both love to write romance (well, Pepper loves to write in ALL genres....she is very well-rounded)
(Pepper here: I'm really not going to make a comment about how physically accurate that last statement is...sigh) Ahem, Pep, we won't go there, because I prefer to say that we are just well-rounded...it sounds much better.

Anyway, we began emailing in 2009 and in March of 2010 Pepper thought it be would fun to start a group blog. So we started recruiting people we had met through the writing blogosphere and found a great group of women to join us at what we called The Writer's Alley. We started out with five awesome ladies: Pepper Basham, Casey Herringshaw, Mary Vee,  Krista Phillips, and ME. 
(Pepper here: because we're so well-rounded -except Casey, who is skinny as a rail, a country rail.:-)

Now we are ten women who love God and LOVE to write. 

For almost three years now God has developed as sense of family in this group we call  The Writer's Alley. Though some have left, God has always provided a perfect fit with a new sister to our family. Not only do we benefit from the encouragement from each other, we have the opportunity to encourage others along the way. (This was all Pepper here. Dictator!) (Literally) :) 

We have had some great things to celebrate! Krista is now a published author with her book, Sandwich, With a Side of Romance. And five of our gals are now agented!  (See the side bar for the list!) We've gotten many contest finals and semi-finals, as well as numerous rejections, but I'm sure there will more to celebrate in the coming months and years. We've got some mad talent in this group of writers, and it all started with two scheming brainstorming blog buddies!

As we come up on our third year anniversary at The Writer's Alley, we would like to hear from you! What new topics would you like to see at The Alley? What old things have we done well? Let us know your thoughts! We want to keep providing great content for YOU!

***This post is brought to you by Sherrinda Ketchersid & Pepper Basham, written on the couch at Sherrinda's home in Fort Worth, Texas. 




25 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a fun blog! I've learned much from you ladies when I stop by for a visit at the Alley. And the encouragement--priceless. :) You are a great group of ladies!

Joanne Sher said...

TOTALLY fun post. You guys are AWESOME (not just Pepper and Sherrinda, by the way - though I think Pepper knows I'm kinda partial to her ;)). Love the encouragement. The craft advice. The comaraderie. ALL of it.

(Have missed you guys, by the way. Not YOUR fault, of course ;))

Julia M. Reffner said...

Oooohhhh...this made me kind of sentimental. I'm so glad God gave you gals this vision and He let me join along.I'll be curious to see what we can provide more of on the Alley. Have fun girls!!

Mary Vee Storyteller said...

Looking forward to circling the wagons in Iowa. :)

Jill Weatherholt said...

I started reading Krista's book yesterday ~ such a fun book! All of you do a great job. I can't think of anything I would do differently. One thing I do love to read about is writer's writing habits, pictures of their writing space, etc. Thanks for asking!

Susan Anne Mason said...

No wonder I like it here! I'm well-rounded too! LOL.

How fun! I didn't know that Pepper and Sherrinda started the blog. It's definitely one of my favourites to visit.

Can't think of anything to add. You guys are doing an awesome job!

Have fun in Texas!

Cheers,
Sue

Sherrinda Ketchersid said...

Awww, Jeanne T, you are such a faithful reader and such an encourager to US. It was so good to meet you at ACFW last year!

Sherrinda Ketchersid said...

Joanne, I think everyone is partial to Pepper too! She has a way of making everyone feel like their her best friend...such a gift. Love you, girl!

Sherrinda Ketchersid said...

Oh Julia, it made me sentimental too! What a fun journey this has been and made all the more special because of women like YOU!

Sherrinda Ketchersid said...

Mary!!! The first Alley Retreat! How fun will that be??? Of course, LOADS of fun! You are a special gal, Mary, and I love you bunches.

Sherrinda Ketchersid said...

Jill, isn't Krista's book loads of fun? She has such an easy way of writing...with fun romance and lots of laughter. Always makes me smile.

And I am sooooo gonna do the writing space idea for my next post! Dibs, Alley cats!!! That is all mine. :) (And you better get them cleaned up, because I'm going to be emailing you to send me pics of your writing spaces!)

Sherrinda Ketchersid said...

Susan Anne, you are so funny! We love to surround ourselves with well-rounded people!!! :)

And thanks for being such a great supporter. You always make our day!

Karen @ a house full of sunshine said...

There are no words for how much I loved this!!

As one of the newest Alleycats, I've often wondered how it all began and where everyone fits in. I knew the gist, that Pep and Sherrinda launched everything off, but it was so much fun reading about how you gals actually met and who our "founding members" are! So thankful every day to be part of this writing family! I'm so blessed to have you all as my sisters!

Pepper said...

Joanne,
You are a DOLL!!!
Thanks for that SWEET shout-out!

Pepper said...

Thanks, Jeanne.
God CERTAINLY knew what he was doing when he brought this group together...if for NO ONE else, it's blessed my life beyond words. These ladies have been amazing encouragers, faith-walkers, dreamers, brainstormers, huggers (both in person and cyberhugs)...I am in awe and humbled by God's great love in bringing them...ALL of them into my life!!!!

Pepper said...

People are only partial to me because I have a memorable name.
It's a lot easier to like people who have names that remind us of food, don't you think?

Missy Tippens said...

What a fun story!! I'm so glad you y'all met up. :)

Reading about your retreat is making me jealous! The Seekers are trying to get together sometime, too. It's just nearly impossible with graduations and weddings this year. But we'll see!

Pepper said...

Missy,
You DO know that The AlleyCats got their inspiration from the Seeker SISTERS!
Who doesn't want a bond and blog like THAT!
(said from the Stalker)

Sherrinda Ketchersid said...

Karen, I hadn't even thought about you new ones not knowing how we got started. Glad we could clear that up! It was funny scrolling through our emails last night, finding weird..ahem, important emails to each other. :)

Sherrinda Ketchersid said...

Missy! I can only imagine how hard it must be to get that many women together at one time. But oh..to be a fly on the wall!!!! lol Thanks for stopping by!

Karen @ a house full of sunshine said...

Pepper, we're partial to you because you're AWESOME. The cool name is just a bonus. ;-)

Sherrinda, weird emails????? What weird emails??! We would NEVER be anything but serious and scholarly. I really dont know what you're talking about.

Amy Leigh Simpson said...

I loved hearing this story! Makes me feel even more blessed and proud to be an alley cat!

Sherrinda Ketchersid said...

Ha! Karen...ignorance is bliss, isn't it??? lol Snort....scholarly, indeed!

Sherrinda Ketchersid said...

Amy, WE are so blessed and proud to have you on board, girl! You are incredibly talented and so much to offer!

Angie Dicken said...

Oh, I am sad to be late to read this, but it made me miss you gals so much!!! The Alley not only filled a gap in my writing journey, but a place of loneliness also! Love, Love, LOVE you ladies!!!!!!