I've mentioned in a couple of posts before that I have writing friends I like to kick back with and just have good talks with, like anyone in any other business.
As writers there are a lot of things that are frustrating, everything from our writing to people we work with to tech to... other people just not "getting" us and our drive. As a result sometimes we just want to beat our heads against the wall. What we need is someone who "gets" us and lets us go on an occasional projectile spew of frustration.
Two friends I cherish a lot are "rant" mates. One is in Scotland (oh, you can't beat the Scots when it comes to a good rant) and the other in Boston. I can call, text or zoom either one of them and let them know the volcano has erupted and they go with the lava flow. They'll rant right along with me (not even knowing what the full story is and possibly not agreeing with me) and when it's all done, and I'm exhausted, we'll examine things and work through it.
What they don't do is try and stop me in mid pout.
What makes these two people exceptionally valuable over a "regular" friend is that they're both writers. My friends outside of the writing world are wonderful whether I'm happy, sad, or somewhere between. What they aren't good at is "getting" the writerly aspect of frustration. They try, they do, but they don't really "get it."
But a writing friend who is willing to be your "rant" mate (and a lot of people aren't) are worth their weight in deep dark chocolate.
We all see a lot of frustration on the forums because, frankly, we're creative and creative people get frustrated about a great variety of things. And, I also see a ton of people willing to help and provide advice or similar experiences, which is wonderful. But sometimes the communication of the written forum doesn't always capture the nuances for a lot of reasons, mostly because we don't know each other personally and one person's frustration may seem over the top to another person who doesn't have the shared experiences.
This is where a rant mate comes in. How do you find one? I have to say, with these two guys it was one of those quiet conversations where I was keeping my big mouth shut and in each instance one of them said... that has to be frustrating. Actually one of the said "you want to rant?" and that was all I needed. When you find your rant mate, you'll know.
Now, some people don't like to do that, and that's fine. You have different ways of dealing with things. Everyone does what works best for them. But if sometimes you just feel like screaming in frustration, it really helps to have someone who knows what you're all about to scream to.
Write hard, write true.