Tap the Synergy: Writers Helping Writers ~ by Julie Phend

 

 

There’s a common perception that writers tend to hole up with their computers and rarely interact with others, or that they're so afraid of copyright theft, they jealously guard their secrets. Nothing could be further from the truth. Despite the solitary hours that go into developing and penning our ideas, writers are generous people who freely offer their time and talents to help one another.

 

Let’s look at some ways to tap into the creative synergy of this vibrant community.

Critique Groups:

When I interviewed writers on how they help one another, critique groups topped the list. In such groups, writers offer advice to one another by pointing out unclear passages, overused words, point of view and grammar errors. They hold each other accountable by expecting work to be submitted on a regular basis. They share tips about agents, publishers, comp titles, and more. Critique partners offer moral support and provide encouragement when the going gets rough, and cheer for each other when good news is shared. Writers often develop lasting friendships over years of meeting with a critique group. 

First Readers:

Writers frequently act as first readers for other writers. Drawing on their own experience and expertise, they can point out places that still need revision and suggest ways to market the work. There’s no better first reader than another writer.  

 

Joint Marketing Efforts:

 

Groups of writers can extend their success by engaging in joint marketing efforts. I belong to a group of local writers, Lake Authors of the Wilderness. Because we all write in different genres, we don’t critique, but our monthly meetings still offer support, encouragement, writing and publishing tips. Our joint marketing efforts include purchasing space at book festivals and craft fairs. We take turns manning the booth and making sales. The diversity of our offerings helps to bring in customers.  It's a win-win for everyone!

 

 

 

Conferences:

At conferences, writers network and present, sharing their expertise. Conferences are great opportunities to pick up helpful tips, meet and mingle with new and old friends. They can be large or small--often organized by professional organizations such as Mystery Writers of America (MWA) and Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI). These conferences can be good sources for finding critique partners, and help to fill a writer’s creative cup.

 

Podcasts and Webinars:

There are a plethora of podcasts and webinars through which writers reach out to other writers. These presentations, targeted toward specific needs and interests, serve as ongoing training for writers and help introduce listeners to important developments in the publishing industry.

 

Write-ins/Virtual Writing Spaces:

Many writers find it helpful to write with others. This can be in an actual location, such as a coffee shop, or a virtual writing space. These groups offer structured time to write, with breakout sessions to discuss, ask for feedback, and offer insight. Writer Carol Nissenson works with a Virtual Writing Space hosted through Instagram. 

 

Other groups that offer online meetings include:

• My Learning Essentials https://medium.com/my-learning-essentials/introducing-writing-together-e99009232774
  
• Writing Momentum.com https://www.writingmomentum.com/writingmoments/ 
• Camp NaNoWriMo https://nanowrimo.org/what-is-camp-nanowrimo and others.

Blogs:

Many writers volunteer their time and talents to write blog posts on topics of interest to other writers.

• Our own GROG Blog https://groggorg.blogspot.com/ offers interviews with writers and editors, news about events for writers, book reviews and behind-the-scenes author stories.
•  Anita McDivitt Barios’ Fabric of Words https://amb.mystrikingly.com/ reviews books and shares writing advice.
•  Always in the Middle reposts 5-7 blog articles for Middle Grade writers each week on Marvelous Middle Grade Monday (MMGM) https://gpattridge.com/ 
• Teaching Authors https://www.teachingauthors.com/ offers weekly posts from six authors who also teach writing.

There are many, many more! Beth Schmelzer, who sent me a marvelous list, says, “So many blogs, so little time. Each blog has a different style, perspective, and appeal to readers and writers.”  Find one that speaks to you.

 

 

 

Spread the word:

One of the most important ways writers help each other is by spreading the word about each other’s books. We can all join this effort. When someone you know publishes a new book, attend their launch party and review the book on Amazon and Goodreads. Buy the book, give it as a gift, and ask your library to stock it on their shelves.

 

Linda Acorn Budzinski sent an inspiring story of how a writer friend helped spread the word about her book, Em and Em. The writer and her daughter co-reviewed the book for Your Teen Magazine. The daughter’s friends all read the book, and one of the friends' mother, who is a TV producer, brought the book to her company’s attention. As a result, the book was optioned for television.

 

Suzi Weinert in my Lake Authors group had a similar experience. A writer friend recommended Suzi’s book, Garage Sale Stalker, to Hallmark, where she worked. As a result, Suzi’s book and characters became the basis for Hallmark’s popular Garage Sale Mystery series.

 

Writer Natalie Rompella reminds us of the Golden Rule. “Whatever you’d like others to do for your book, do it for theirs.”

 

 

Tap the Synergy:

 

Linda Acorn Budzinski sums it up: “Writers help me all the time through moral support, friendship, feedback, and just plain understanding the life of a writer when no one else seems to!”

 

Tapping into the expertise and energy of the writing community is well worth the effort. You’ll learn much, form lasting friendships, and find support for every step on your writing journey.

 

A Shout-Out:

Finally, a big thank you to the generous writers who shared their stories and tips for this article: Linda Acorn Budzinski, Dana Wilson Easley, Barbara Ellen, Pam Evans, Kathryn Gaglione Hughes, Jennifer Loizeaux, Sharon Lyon, Carmela Martino, Eileen Meyer, Carol Nissenson, Natalie Rompella, Joyana Peters, Beth Schmelzer, Debra Kempf Shumaker, Ann McCallum Staats, Amy Thernstrom, and Suzi Weinert.

 

To be a Writer, You Need a Community ~ by Christy Mihaly

This is a story about writing, and community, and giving back. Like a good picture book, it's also about coming full circle.

Ten Thousand Hours

You’ve probably heard that to master a skill you must practice it for ten thousand hours. . . . I suspect ten thousand isn’t the precise number for every person in every field, but you get the idea.

In this book,
Malcolm Gladwell
discussed the
"10,000-hour rule."

And . . . if you keep doing the thing you’re learning (here, we’re referring to writing), then somewhere along the line you get better, and you start to understand the journey that you’ve begun. And after that, maybe a piece you wrote gets some recognition, or an editor doesn’t immediately reject a manuscript, and you revise, and take some courses, and join a critique group . . . and then one day, even though you haven’t completed your ten thousand hours—or, in any event, you know you aren’t finished practicing—someone asks you to share what you know. To give a presentation, in public.

Sitting up Front

I've posted previously about my local indie book store, Bear Pond Books. Among its other virtues, Bear Pond hosts an informative Author/Educator speaker series. Children’s book buyer Jane Knight organizes these wide-ranging talks. Over the years, I’ve attended many enlightening Author/Educator programs, given by many talented authors and educators.

Author Linda Urban speaks; Jane feeds the crowd

But. My place was in the “audience” seats, where I could soak up the wisdom of those sitting in the “presenter” chairs up front. When Jane asked me to give a presentation this year, I was taken aback. Surely I wasn’t qualified. Jane, however, knew that I’d recently published a book, and she also knew that many of the folks attending the speaker series, or hanging around the book store, were interested in writing for publication. She thought they’d like to hear how someone with a day job (teacher, librarian, parent, attorney) could break into publishing. I gulped, and agreed. (This is the giving-back part.)

Once these flyers went out, we were committed!

But I didn't agree to do it alone. I recruited Ryan Kriger, a former colleague from my former job as a lawyer, to co-present. 

Ryan is lawyering full-time. He’s also a writer, and has both a literary agent and several manuscripts making the rounds. I thought it might be helpful and relevant that he does stand-up comedy as well. Ryan named our talk: “Don’t Quit Your Day Job: A Working Writers’ Workshop.”

Doing the talk!

On the morning of the talk, we settled into the unfamiliar chairs up front. People filled the space before us. Ryan and I just knew that some of those audience members were better writers than we. Nonetheless, we plowed ahead. We distributed a list of resources we’d compiled, and introduced ourselves. We each summarized our parallel tales of how we’d evolved from doing “hobby writing” to identifying ourselves as actual authors.

As we did, a truth emerged: the key to becoming a “real” writer was joining a community of writers. If you're serious about writing, find your community.

It takes a community to publish a book

Of course, writers must hone their craft: write, revise, re-revise, and polish. (See above re: 10,000 hours.) But the next stepping stone on the path to publication is to acknowledge you can’t do it alone. Venture outside your writing garret, and participate in the writing world.

Push yourself: Conferences can be fun

Writers aren’t always good joiners. But that fantasy of toiling alone in a lofty studio, perfecting a Great Work, never emerging except at last to mail the freshly minted manuscript to some eager editor? Not going to happen.

Working writers, with M&M's

Publishing a book takes teamwork. Unless you self-publish (and even then) you'll work with others (critique partners, agents, editors, experts, illustrators, designers, marketers and more) to get that book out.

SCBWI New England conference

Where can you find your team? If you write and/or illustrate children’s books, join SCBWI. After that, seek out local writers’ associations, online groups like 12x12 (for picture book writers), challenges such as NaNoWriMo, courses, and community events. Haunt your local book store, library, or community center, and check out their writing-related offerings. 

On the Writing Journey

I’d been writing for a decade, and making precious little progress, before I first attended a writing workshop (at Highlights Foundation). It changed my life. I started solid friendships with several experienced writers, and one even invited me to join her critique group. (I was too embarrassed to admit that I didn’t know how a crit group worked!) It’s now been almost four years, and the same e-mail-based critique group is still thriving. We’ve made each other’s work stronger, shared ideas, inspiration, and disappointments, and celebrated one another’s hard-earned successes. AND, I’m now co-authoring a book with a member of the group.

GROGgers at SCBWI

At every conference or workshop or writer’s meeting I’ve attended since then, I’ve pushed my way a little farther along the writing path. I haven’t scored a three-book deal yet. But with each event, I become less ignorant about writing. I've met my tribe. I've found support. I've learned more about the craft. I've begun to understand publishing and marketing. I was introduced to the writers who became the GROG, and others who are my neighbors in rural Vermont.

But most important: I stopped feeling like an imposter when I said, "I'm a writer!"

Ryan told a similar tale. He lived in Brooklyn (that hub of the publishing universe) for several years, before he’d joined any writers’ groups. But he didn't really get to know people in publishing during his time there. Then he moved away, joined SCBWI, and began meeting writers, editors, and agents. The more involved he became in writing workshops and critique groups, the more confident he grew in seeking (and finding) an agent and submitting his manuscripts. While his books haven't (yet) been published, Ryan has joined the writing community as a “real writer,” and recently published a piece about using humor in writing. Ryan also reminded me that, although he and I had met at our workplace, neither of us was aware that the other wrote outside the office, until we crossed paths at a local SCBWI event. You have to get out there and meet up!

Now, years later, we were sitting in the chairs at the front of the room, sharing what we've learned, meeting more writers, expanding our writing community. Thanks, Jane. (This is the full circle part!)

Who's in your writing community? Let us know in the comments. Share your recommendations! And if you'd like more information, here are a few community-oriented posts from the GROG archives: 

A newbie's guide to two helpful writing groups

The write conference for you

Is your critique group right for you?

Introverts attending conferences: words of advice
Writer-driven Facebook Groups

Thanks so much for stopping by!