How to find a writing group.

Writers are independent people. We value our self-sufficiency! Most of us are at least slightly introverted, always looking for more alone time.

That’s because writing helps us feel grounded. Showing up for our writing practice is how we build trust in ourselves.

So good.

But if we overvalue our independence, we feel we must “discipline” ourselves to get our work done, and solve all our problems by ourselves.

So hard!

Some more hallmarks of writing alone:

You feel worried about sounding stupid, or being incompetent
You struggle to solve your story and craft problems until your brain hurts
You overthink your worldbuilding until your structure gets so complex, you resist writing the story itself
You numb out in order to get a certain number of pages written each day no matter what, but when you think about revising them, you feel a weight in the pit of your stomach
You try to present yourself as stable, calm, and on the right track — even though you’re secretly afraid that your writing is a hot mess

The good news!

Writing with support can alleviate most (if not all) of the above symptoms of writing alone, almost 100% of the time. I’m serious.

Getting support for our writing is seen as something emerging writers need, and it’s implied that this is something we’re supposed to grow out of. This is simply not true.

We never know for sure if we’re doing it right. That’s okay! We’re not supposed to feel certainty in our creative field.

However, in order to write something that we want to read while simultaneously feeling that much insecurity, we need help.

We need a community who has our back. We need someone who listens, someone to brainstorm with, someone to ask us good questions, someone to problem solve with us.