I wanted to talk about the importance (and benefits) of not writing alone. By this, I mean having a support system of people (both writers and non-writers) to help you as you fulfill your goals and dreams.
If you are new to this blog, here is a brief introduction about me:
I am a writer of fantasy and speculative fiction the embraces history, nature, and a little darkness. I have written and published poetry and short stories with two complete novel manuscripts in the editing stages (plus many more in-progress projects).
On November 3rd 2024, I finished my first round of structural edits for my post-apocalyptic, alternative historical novel, Sanctuary-on-Severn. You can find more about this here.
Over the past 10 years, I have lost contact with my writing friends for different reasons. I joined communities, but these never led to the friendship I was craving and some even closed after a while. So, I tried to get back into writing on my own again like I used to do before I met my first ever writing friend at around the age of 17.
This proved harder than I imagined. Eventually, I was able to motivate myself by setting a strict deadline and a daily schedule. I would tell myself the benefits of writing on my own - no pressure from other writers making me feel like I needed to prove myself worthy (like other toxic people had done before) - to ease the loneliness. This only helped a little, so the situation remained mentally and emotionally difficult.
That was until I met Rachel Giffin, my amazing book coach, who you may have seen me mention before on my blog and on Instagram. Rachel dedicated her time over 14 weeks (as part of a programme she offered) to help me finish my round of structural edits for Sanctuary-on-Severn and I am so grateful to her for this help. If you need help with writing, and want to join a safe and accepting community, you can find links to Rachel and her resources at the bottom of this post.
It was through Rachel’s community that I met my now close friend Mars, a fellow speculative fiction writer who is working on her fantasy debut. It is in honour of the connections we have made (with each other, with Rachel, with those in her community and others, etc.) that inspired us to write blog posts on this topic together. You can find out more about Mars and her thoughts on the topic of not writing alone here on her blog.
It is through Mar’s encouragement, Rachel’s coaching, my partner, my best friend, and my family cheering me on, along with some serious mindset shifting on my end of things, that I was able to get through and finish my round of structural edits. Just three weeks later, Mars finished the first draft of her fantasy novel 🥳
We had both completed our goals within our 3 month deadlines!
To help each other do this, we did (and still do) the following things:
Cheer each other on → we regularly chat with each other and other writers about our work, anything we are struggling with (either personally or with our writing), our achievements, our goals, and everything in between.
This helps provide a sense of accountability and comaraderie
It can help to unload stress about a project and receive feedback and support in return
Talking about a problem with your story and brainstorm solutions with others can help fuel your creativity and provide answers you might not have thought of on your own
If we’re feeling unconfident, we give each other praise and reassurance. In a world full of negativity and harmful toxicity (especially with the online side of society), it is good to remember that it is okay to give people compliments and make them feel good about themselves. You never know what someone is going through and how much your words might make their day.
Do writing sprints → we meet at least once a week with each other (sometimes with other writers as well) to carve out some time in our schedules to get some focused writing time done
We start with a short timer (usually 5 minutes) to catch up and/or talk about something specific but writing related - for example: our favourite scene we have written so far either for the project we are currently work on OR for any project we have. This helps us calm any hyped up energy we might have or release something we’ve been wanting to say so that we can then turn on our focus modes for the sprint.
Our sprints are then structured similar to the pomodoro technique.
We announce our goals for the sprint (for example: read 5 pages of a book, write the next scene of your story, finishing planning the outline of a story, etc.)
Then, we set a timer for 25 minutes and work on whatever we had planned to do
When the timer goes off, we take 5 minutes to talk about the progress we made, how we feel about it, cheer each other on, talk about any issues we experienced and help each other through it, etc.
Rinse and repeat as many times as wanted (depending on everyone’s availability and needs)
Join Rachel’s free community events → currently Rachel is hosting free weekly ‘Write Along’s on Mondays and free weekly ‘Office Hour’s on Fridays (resuming in December). These are a great way to get support from Rachel and her wonderful community. Meeting Rachel was a much needed turning point in my writing career and I am grateful to whatever algorithm or mystical force that led me to her and, by extension, to Mars.
I hope this post helps encourage you to reach out to, or create, your own writing support system or even to become someone else’s cheerleader. We could all do with more people we can rely and depend on.
If you want to follow Mars, her writing, and the journey she is taking to become a published author, you can do so on her blog or on Instagram.
You can find Rachel and the awesome resources she offers through her website, community, Instagram, YouTube, and Patreon.
And, as always, you can follow my journey and the progress of Sanctuary-on-Severn through my posts here on this blog as well as on Instragram.
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