LONE WOLF MCQUAID MEETS THE WALTONS

Every Lone Wolf Needs a Pack

Especially Lone-Wolf writers

Photo by Honza Reznik on Unsplash

If you read the kicker, you’ll realize this may not be a completely serious article. But in a way, it is — well, a bit of both, I guess.

We writers can be a solitary breed. We work alone — no room for four hands on the keyboard. We can become downright hermits. We lock ourselves away in tower rooms, or drafty attics, or our parents’ basements (for the free Wi-Fi) and pound out our word quota for the day.

Even when we allow ourselves out — for a coffee or something a little stronger — we are easily spotted. We’d be the solitary sipper glancing furtively about — table for one, please. Doing our best not to get caught staring — or worse, eavesdropping.

Our families already know everything they say and do is grist for the mills. But strangers might not be so forgiving about our knack for capturing their every word and gesture. Especially when it takes place in a fight to the death with a sugar dispenser or an argument over whose turn it was to pay for lunch.

In my defense, I didn’t glue the dispenser shut, whatever the barista said, and the couple’s argument over their petit fours was really loud.