This is what I have been experiencing lately. I have many writer friends and I am so thankful for a supportive community of like-minded people. But this is what I have lately been experiencing. Whenever I am around my writer friends the discussion is always what people are working on and how many are getting published. Well, of course, what else would writers talk about? I am writing regularly, but I haven’t been published in awhile. I have been sending out submissions and receiving regular rejections. It kind of amazes me because back in the 1980s and 1990s I got published often. I think I am a better writer now, so the constant rejections have me a bit baffled. But no matter, I have developed a thick skin over the years. My present real concern is that I feel a sense of competition amongst myself and my fellow authors, and this feeling is taking away the fun of writing. I feel I have to keep up with my colleagues, and I don’t like this feeling. Does anyone else feel like this?