ID 103740765 | Writing © Pavel Shlykov | Dreamstime.com
A favorite new topic at conventions is how writers can create a community, build third spaces, and connect with others to help keep them growing as writers. Whether this is fallout from the isolation of COVID, the continuing reduction of the size of family and places for people to create friends, or just a natural cycle of knowledge, community and connection is on everybody’s minds.
WRITING EXERCISE: Interact with a writing community.
First off, define what you (1) NEED and what you (2) WANT from a group of people involved in writing. This could be I need to learn more about writing, I need some one to encourage me in writing (daily, on weekends), I need a critique partner. I want accountability. I want someone to talk to over coffee about writing. Remember to define the difference between what is NEEDED to feed your writing and what is WANTED to feed your happiness.
Second, if you are not now part of a writing community, define the steps to find one or create one. And how you want to interact with it. Should it be in person, or social media, or zoom?
Third, if you are part of a writing community, interact with at least one of the formats this week/today. Respond to someone’s memes. Attend a convention. Check in with Con Tinual (on Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/con.tinual.37 or YouTube https://www.youtube.com/c/continualconvention ). Go to your favorite writers on TikTok and watch a video there. Call a writing buddy out of the blue.
Fourth, if you haven’t already, set up a weekly, monthly, or daily writing contact. Record it in Outlook or some other format to remind you.
Do as little or as much of this writing exercise as you want or can. Start the building blocks of the community you need.
My attempt:
First, I needed one more interaction with people in-person to happen regularly. I looked and looked and looked for a writing community locally. The conventions were two hours away and the people who attended them were even further. My local city had nothing. I checked at book stores and the meet-up app. While I was part of a book club, and had several other book clubs I could join, I NEEDED a writing group…In-Person. I WANTED to not be the one to organize it. I’ve created groups so many times before and didn’t want to do that yet again; partly lack of energy, but partly because I don’t know when I will be pulled away from the duty for other things and I didn’t want to have others depend on me for it. I would like to be in the position to be a learner, not a teacher, bur realize at this point of my life that is unlikely.
Second, miracle of miracles, a nearby library system started a writer’s guild. It is a ten-mile forty-minute drive, lots of lights. They are mostly older folks and not really in this professionally. But they want community and so do I. It’s been three months; no one is working to friendship outside the group, but it is much, much better than nothing.
Third, for the discord group of Falstaff (give me a shout-out in the comments if you want to join), I drop a daily meme and interact with anyone doing stuff there. Once a month, I have an open-door discord where we can hang out in Discord and talk and I also host a once a month type-in where the discord is open by we are.not.talking, but writing.
Fourth, the once-a-month Discord meetings are in the Outlook for reminders.
To one of the Discord people who asked about community creating, I wrote the following:
Silent writing time in person; twined writing over the phone, discord, or zoom; non-reading brainstorming session (MUST ALTERNATE!) – describe the issue (sometimes describing the issue helps to resolve it) – maybe not even have an issue, but describe the story can help find flaws; break time once a month just to talk and support (more for extroverts) — like the Open Door Discord we have once a month here.