FINDING BALANCE THROUGH A WRITING GROUP

Bess Kercher, Tracy Curtis, Trish Rohr, Kimmery Martin
​Writer’s Digest Conference, 2018

Writing Group, Ink
www.writinggroupink.com
​
Bess Kercher
www.maemucho.com
Tracy Curtis
www.tracyleecurtis.com
Trish Rohr
www.empoweryourlearning.com
Kimmery Martin
www.kimmerymartin.com
Places to find your people

Public Library
Bookstores
Local Writing Organizations 
Book Clubs
Author events/readings
Grapevine
Online
Community of Practice

Jane Friedman- business guru      www.janefriedman.com
Query Shark - dreaded letter         queryshark.blogspot.com
The Debutante Ball - publishing    thedebutanteball.com
Writer’s Digest -everything           writersdigest.com
Query Tracker - agent scoop        querytracker.net
Publisher’s Marketplace.              publishersmarketplace.com
Ingram Spark- self pub                ingramspark.com
Writer Unboxed - craft of fiction   writerunboxed.com
diyMFA- writing resources           dyimfa.com

Get By With A Little Help 
​from your writer friends

Writers are often isolated, constantly navigating scenes and stories that exist only in their imaginations before evolving to the page. A writing career may be challenged by mental blocks, deadline pressures, platform anxieties, and other set-backs.
Writers may mitigate this reality by joining a group where members support each other through the difficult chapters. Our writing group came together in Charlotte, NC, somewhat serendipitously, and it has buoyed our efforts to produce and promote the content of blogs, newspaper columns, independently and traditionally published books, business marketing, online essays, and more. And we have a good time doing it!

What are the benefits of a writing group?
The broad benefit of creating a collective that shares your passion for writing is two-fold: practical and emotional.

On a practical level, more heads are better than one when it comes to generating ideas, offering feedback, proof-reading, sharing content on social media, staffing and attending events, ferrying books and supplies, and networking. Knowing you have a committed collective at the ready alleviates a lot of the operational difficulties associated with a writing career.

On an emotional level, writing can be a brutal endeavor. The highs are high but the lows can be really low, and made worse by creative stumbling blocks, demoralizing rejections, unkind reviews or comments, and a never-ending editing and revising process. In addition, the demands and worries of everyday life are hard to shoulder alone, regardless of your vocation. Finding people you trust and enjoy is a helpful balm. We have celebrated, raged, laughed, and cried with each other more times than we can count — because of happenings not only with our writing pursuits, but also with our real life experiences.

How do you sustain a writing group ?
Once you have connected with your people*, it’s important to be strategic and purposeful to maintain your professional and personal relationships. Some of the ways we stay close, even when life gets hectic, include:
•Private communication platforms, including Facebook pages, text threads, and the Slack app
•Syncing a Google calendar so we may accurately plan meet-ups
•Continuing education efforts — writing classes, lectures, author and library events, fun and informative conferences
•Emergency contacts — showing up for each other in every way, not just writing-related ones

You are not alone.
Writers are a wonderful breed — finding your scribe tribe can help to create comforting balance in your career and in your life.