Not All Side Effects Are Bad

Those pharmaceutical commercials always crack me up.  “Ask your doctor about Zooprexia.” Which is inevitably followed by… “Zooprexia, may cause dizziness, dry mouth, internal brain hemorrhaging, zombieism, irregular bowel frustration, gravitational loss and genital irregularities.” And the voice was so peaceful and cheerful, you’re left going “Wait, what?!  Dizziness and What?!” I’m always left thinking, wow I can’t remember what Zooprexia was supposed to help with in the first place, but I think I’ll stick with the depression or restless leg syndrome or whatever it was, because I’m fairly certain all that other stuff sounds much, much worse.

Turns out the writing world has it’s own side effects.  I had no idea. Really, NO IDEA.  But guess what, not all side effects are bad.  So far, these unexpected side effects have been wonderfully and alarmingly GOOD.

I’ll sum up a couple of my favorites.

1)  Side effects of Critique Partners- You started out just looking for someone to offer a few much- needed comments on your book.  You expected a few editorial suggestions, and a couple red lined pages. What you did NOT expect was this:

Warning Critique Partners may cause: Laughter in excessive quantities, moral support, genuine friendship, almost daily hilarity, wisdom, invaluable advice in ALL aspects of your life and oh yeah dizziness…because I’ve got altitude sickness over here my critique partners are Just That Awesome.

2)  Side effects of building your online Twitter platform- You heard you needed to be on Twitter, and you resisted because let’s face it, there’s SO much social media out there that you thought your head might explode.  What you did NOT anticipate was this:

Warning Connecting with other writers on Twitter may cause: Again with the excessive laughter, meeting people with fantastic taste in books and movies, someone to talk to when your burnt out insomniac ass can’t sleep, a vast community of people who can commiserate, and also eagerly waiting for people in other time zones to wake up because they are Just That Interesting.

I could go on and on…but I won’t. Suffice it to say, that once you start your course of Writerly Antibiotics (yes this metaphor is being stretched beyond reason) don’t be surprised if you experience a few side effects, and don’t be surprised if some of them are awesome.

Oh and p.s. Don’t do drugs. Poster was for hilarity purposes only