Find Your People

Happy end-of-August, all!

This weekend—a weekend uncharacteristically cool for August and oh, so lovely—I joined a dozen other writers for a write-in. Hosted by a local author, we socialized, wrote, and read our work to one another. The objective: connection, reconnection, inspiration, and encouragement. It was fabulous.

At 9 a.m., the writers converged. We ate doughnuts, drank coffee, gossiped and laughed, and caught up with one another. Around 10 a.m., we shifted into phase two: writing! Everyone grabbed an extra doughnut or piece of fruit, and refilled their coffee. They then scattered throughout the house and grounds—wherever they could find a seat and a table or lap desk to prop up a computer or notebook. A comfortable silence settled in until noon, interspersed vy the occasional hushed voice, and the tick-tick-tick of Frankie the Dog making his rounds from writer to writer to steal a scratch.

At noon, we rested our fingers and gathered in one room to read our work for the day (no one obligated to read; most did). Some writers had a particularly productive morning and shared poetry and prose that was already rather nuanced and polished. The rest of us shared words still in a far more raw condition. Everyone listened attentively, offered various commentary, but were always supportive and encouraging.

Afterward, we chatted some more, then departed with progress made by all, names put to faces, some new connections, and many reconnections. We are a community.

Find your people!

If I had a dollar for every time I heard some person on the internet lament that they can't find a writing group (or knitting group or photography group or magic, juggling, wood-carving group), I could retire comfortably today.

I regularly meet with four different writing groups. In person! And sometimes another one or two online. I can point to a handful of additional writing groups in my region that I don't meet with. Interest groups are everywhere. I encourage everyone to leave the house and meet with folks with similar interests. Expert in your craft? You still have more to learn, and you can pay it forward as surely someone once paid it forward to you. Just starting out? There is no faster way to progress than to be exposed to the work and process of someone else doing the same thing—different voices, different perspectives, and, if nothing else, encouragement.

Every time I attend an event, I am inspired to push forward and then share my work with my broadening network of writers. You too can get out there and do the same thing. Find your people.