Three Benefits of Finding a Writing Community
/Writing is one of those activities that has a reputation for being a solitary endeavor—and in many ways, that reputation is deserved. But one of the most underrated aspects of being a writer is the ability to form and join communities of other writers. If you are working toward a large project like a book, being a part of a community will give you support and teach you the beauty of working alongside others—which will become an integral part of your journey once you bring editors on board.
Writing groups are endlessly customizable. No matter what you need from a community of writers, there’s something for you. Being part of one can look like in-person meetings with other writers on a regular basis where you exchange your writing and provide feedback. It can look like a “work party,” where you spend time together and regular intervals but work independently on your own projects (it’ll probably give you flashbacks to cramming for finals in the library with classmates). It can look like virtual correspondences where you hash out the details of your writing project, commiserate over your struggles, and share your hopes and triumphs. It can even look like scrolling through a Facebook group of similarly minded creators to learn from others’ mistakes and questions!
They gently provide accountability. Writing a book is one thing. Writing a book and telling a lot of other people you are writing a book is quite another. We writers tend to put a lot of pressure on ourselves to be perfectly productive, which can ironically lead to procrastination. But by being in a community of writers, we get to reap the benefits of being held accountable by others without being pressured. Writing is tough, but writers are gracious to each other. Let your writer friends hold you to the deadlines and word counts you have set for yourself and do the same for them: you all will appreciate the resulting momentum.
It’s a way to find your people. Have you heard of the Inklings? This was a literary discussion group that met at Oxford in the 1930s and 40s. If you haven’t heard of the group, you have certainly heard of its members, which included J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, and Owen Barfield. It was in this group that The Lord of the Rings was first read, for example! While the Inklings didn’t initially meet as a writing group, their camaraderie and feedback on each other’s work led to some of the twentieth century’s most iconic works. Likewise, while your message and writing style are utterly unique, you are not the only writer out there—and that’s a great thing! Digging into a community gets you outside your own head, deepens your creativity, and broadens your network in the literary world. Investing in people who care about writing as much as you do will sharpen your skills like nothing else.
You can start your own writing group with people you know, connect with social media, join sites like Meetup, or check bulletin boards around town for existing groups. Once you start looking, you’ll see how many other writers are out there!
For more on writing groups, see one of our past posts here.
Keep on writing,
Chelsea, for the Inspira Team