Aah… Free Writing Groups 

I had a really good conversation with one of the members of the Writing Gym the other day, and wanted to share it with you all. She was talking about a writing group she had been a part of for a number of years at her local library. The members had recently invited her to an event, which got her reflecting. 

During our call, one of the most interesting things she said was:

“I’m not looking for a social activity. I’m looking for results.”  

Her old writing group had invited her to a self-publishing workshop they were putting on, because one of the members had decided to give up on the traditional publishing dream. He had found a “Holy Grail” of self-publishing, and was going to share how he had done that with the rest of the group so they could follow suit. 

She  kept saying to me, “I’ve got the real results” “I’m in conversations with agents” “I’ve set out to traditionally publishing my book, and here I am having conversations” “I’m getting really good feedback on my manuscript” and more–as the other members of the Writing Gym do. 

She got an immediate response from an agent, telling her that it was one of the best quality query letters he had seen in a year–this is saying something when you get really great feedback on the quality of your submission.

So the real matter here is: not looking for a social activity, but looking for results. 

Many times, writers get into a trap of enjoying too many social events with fellow writers. This doesn’t mean we don’t have fun at the Writing Gym, because we enjoy hanging out with other writers, and it’s fun to spend time with people who share our hobbies and our desires. 

However, we first have to be focused on our goal–do we want to publish, or do we want a social club?

Some writers get stuck on the latter, and they stay in the same place. They stagnate. Nobody is publishing. Nobody wants to rock the boat and be the person who gets the contract. This is an instance in which writing groups can work against the writer.

Here at the Writing Gym, we are focused on results. There is a culture of celebration at the Writing Gym, where we celebrate each others’ accomplishments. We’re still laugh and have a fun time with each other. 

How do you create the author lifestyle for yourself? How do you publish time and time again? How do you end up in a relationship with the publisher?

These are the kinds of results that we want in our community. 

If this sounds like the kind of community that you want to be a part of and you’d like to talk to me about the Writing Gym, click here. I’d love to chat with you so we can talk about where you are, where you’d like to go, and how you can get there.