The #1 way blogging has helped me

...is by teaching me how truly accessible this business is.

Before I started blogging, I thought publishing was a daunting, mysterious, formal institution chock full of mustache-sporting, business-coat-wearing, self-important old dudes.

And that isn't to say there aren't still plenty of those around, in publishing or otherwise. Or that said old dudes can't be helpful.

But my idea of the publishing world was so, so wrong.  An austere institution, it is not.

There is a nearly limitless supply of agents, editors, librarians, published and unpublished writers, and all sorts of other publishing professionals who want to help, who are accessible at their own expense, who encourage writers and make it just a tiny bit easier for talented people to find a home for their work.

Two years ago, I would've never thought it possible to be interacting with agents, editors, and authors online. That they would read my comments on their blogs and respond with thoughtful answers. That they would (occasionally) visit my blog and comment on my words - but that's exactly what blogging has afforded me.

I've worked in retail, I've worked at a very nice corporation, and I've worked in higher education - none of them holds a candle to the warmth I've felt from the publishing industry.

I don't draw a salary from writing - heck, maybe I never will - but of all the jobs I've ever had, this one has paid spades more than any other.