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Today, Fable and the Verbivore are talking about how to find your writing community.

We cover a lot of tips and ideas for how to go about finding your people and build writing relationships. We both go into things learned from our own experiences, but we also share some ideas from outside resources.

Here are some of our key takeaways:

• Put yourself out there: share your voice, don’t be afraid to get a little loud, and be yourself

• Get honest with yourself about what you want: write down your specific goals, ask if you’re ready right now, if not take small steps to making it happen

• Experiment in small things to see if you fit well with each other: beta read for each other, do a short exercise, or write together for something like NaNoWriMo

• Allow things to ebb and flow by setting time limits: much of what we do is seasonal and it’s hard to keep up with something indefinitely, setting time frames allows them to grow and end naturally, it also gives you a natural out if your life responsibilities change

• Be clear about intentions and expectations: communicate what you’re hoping to accomplish and set deadlines for when, this encourages a dialogue and reduces confusion

• Don’t quit before you get past the uncomfortable feeling of a new experience: Starting out is awkward always, make a commitment to yourself to try it a certain number of sessions before stopping so that you break past that initial feeling and can objectively decide if it’s for you

We also note that Instagram is a great place to connect and interact with other writers and it’s a place that we use a lot, but there are definitely other places to check out as well. Here are a few of them:

• Local Library Groups

• Facebook Writing Groups

• Camp NaNoWriMo

• Writing Associations

• Writing Conferences

• Writing Workshops

• Writing Retreats

• Formal Writing Classes

• Writing Panels at Fan Conferences like Phoenix Fan Fusion

We hope you enjoy this episode. Keep reading, writing, and putting your voice out there!

Into the woods,

Fable & The Verbivore

Notes:

Fable shares a quote from poet Charles Simic. That quote is:

• “He who cannot howl will not find his pack.”

Here are some articles and videos that we found helpful in preparation for this conversation:

• MasterClass Article “How to Find a Writing Group: 6 Benefits of Joining a Writing Group”

• Reedsy Blog Article “15 of the Best Online Writing Communities for Aspiring Authors”

• Lulu Blog Article “7 Online Writing Communities For Authors”

TedTalk Mentioned:

• My year of saying yes to everything | Shonda Rhimes Ted Talk

Music from: https://filmmusic.io
‘Friendly day’ by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)
Licence: CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)