CREATIVITY SPARKS
April 2007

The Solitary Writer and the Community
You are not alone

Are you working alone at a computer? Do you face the blank screen or page on a regular basis? If you answered yes, then you are not alone. Yes, you are not alone. This community of writers spread out across the world, each of us working on our creative endeavors, each of us facing the inner demons in our own way. Let’s see, when I sit down to write I face: doubt, fear, worry, the urge to check email, the need to eat, and yes, the infernal deadline. What do you face when you sit down to write? Whatever it is, you are not alone in that act.

Yes, we’re writers, a community of solitaries. And when we’re not writing, where do we find our creative community? So, to get unstuck, reach out and be a part of a writers community. Be it an informal writers groups, writers associations, writers' classes and conferences, writers' email loops or the local café, or any combination of these.

Informal Writers Groups
Ask any writer you know and they may belong to a group of other writers who gather on a regular basis, either to write, to critique each other’s writing, or to kvetch. To find an informal writers group, ask at your local library, check the bulletin boards at your local coffee shop or grocery store, or search craigslist.org.

If you can’t find one to your liking, consider starting your own. Some resources to help are: The Writing Group Book: Creating and Sustaining a Successful Writing Group by Lisa Rosenthal, Writing Alone, Writing Together: A Guide for Writers and Writing Groups by Judy Reeves, and Writing Alone and With Others by Pat Schneider. Both of these books supply guidelines and communication tools to start your own writers group.

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Writers’ Associations
Writers’ associations offer community, where writers congregate to support each other on their path to publication. They also facilitate that necessary triad for learning: one, you, the writer; two, a person to learn from; and three, another person to teach. Writers’ associations such as the Romance Writers of America, the Mystery Writers of America, or the California Writers Club(see more below), that meet regularly, provide a forum to meet writers more experienced and more accomplished than you. In such a group setting, you can get also validated for how much you do know, how far you’ve come as a writer, and be happily surprised by both those facts. You can also help those who know less than you, and may not have has much confidence or experience than you. Thus, writers’ associations can provide the environment for invaluable mentoring relationships.

Here are a list of many writers’ associations. Some are more open to non-published writers than others. Be sure to check the membership requirements for specific details.

American Christian Fiction Writers
The Authors Guild
Broad Universe
California Writers Club
Horror Writers of America
International Thriller Writers, Inc.
Mystery Writers Association
National Association of Women Writers
National Writers Union
Romance Writers of America
Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America, Inc.
Sisters in Crime
Society for Children's Book Writers & Illustrators

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Writing Classes
Writing classes offer community, instruction, support and guidance. For where to take classes, and from who, check your local community college, craiglist.org, or community bulletin boards. Many private teachers teach small classes. If you’re not sure the teacher or the class will be a good fit, ask to speak to the teacher ahead of time to determine that.

Some San Francisco Bay Area writing classes are listed here.

Writers’ Conferences
I highly recommend writers conferences. There’s nothing like the tremendous power of being able to meet agents, editors, and best-selling authors who are pros at both the writing and the promoting, and take workshops specifically designed to help you advance your writing or your career or both, all within the space of a few busy and intense days.

Many of the writers associations above have annual and regional conferences. For other writers conferences, check out Poets & Writers, Writers Digest, and The Writer.

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Writers’ Email Loops
Writers’ email loops exist for many writing genres and sub-genres. Yahoo.com and Google host many email loops and are fairly searchable. If you have trouble finding a loop that suits your particular writing needs, ask writers who write in the genre you want to be a part of to see what loops they participate in and like.

These loops can offer a variety of things and can be heavily or loosely moderated, or self-policed. To choose an appropriate one for you, know if you want a loop that talks shop – what agents and editors are looking for what types of manuscripts, craft and formatting help, writing and critique support, or a combination of the above.

For example, since I write young adult fiction I belong to a teen lit loop. We ask for assistance, share tips, industry information, and have agents and editors come in for Q&A.

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The Local Café
If you have one, the local café is a great place to be alone with our thoughts, our stories, and still be around others, and provides a welcome change to the routine of being alone at your desk. I often write my first drafts in cafes.

At my local café, the baristas and café owner know my name. I like the eclectic art by local art students on the walls, and the music is always a surprising and pleasing mix. Other writers, students and business owners do their work there, and the locals stop by for their lunch or afternoon coffee. It’s a vibrant community that offers me good food, ambience and warmth. A great place to go when I need to be alone in a friendly group of people, and when the quiet of my home office is too still.

We are Alone Together
To manifest a career as a writer, to even get a book completed, it takes a writing village. And though we as writers live in isolation from community to comment on it, we need community of like-minded creatives for support, guidance, feedback, and energy exchange.

c. 2007 Beth Barany


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