I can remember the first writing group I attended. It was an online group during the pandemic around 2020 and the objectives of the group was to post a word or image and for people to write a short story or a few paragraphs about the weekly theme. I enjoyed this but soon realised that my quirky ‘think outside the box’ was gaining attention, and I decided to leave the group. Partially due to being a bit overwhelmed by the attention and also my realisation that I was sharing my creative ideas freely with a group of online strangers without any rules or structure to the group, especially around plagiarism.
My next group was an online course I completed through New Writing North and here I was pleased to connect with others on my course. This showed me that peer feedback was essential to growth and refining my writing style. It was through attending a real course run by New Writing North that I meet with some other budding writers who were on a similar level to me. After the course had finished a few of us decided to continue supporting each other on a Saturday morning and we are now a close band of friends who are writing in different genres but who are supportive of each other and our work.
I found another local group, via a friend and writing colleague, which I try to attend regularly. This group is different again, focusing on writing skills, short stories and exploring different angles and genres.
So Why Do They Matter?
The reason why having a support group whilst writing is so important is:
- They understand the frustrations, the joys and everything in between when you are writing.
- A fresh set of eyes on your work can help you find typos, clarify points of view and make suggestions on how to make your writing lighter and smarter.
- It can be lonely especially when you are getting established and maybe you do not have continuous support in your home or social life.
- They can open up doors, someone will always know someone who is an expert in the field you are writing about, and if not they will have some great ideas on how to access such experts.
- They can be great fun, with lots of enthusiasm and social aspects, such as attending events together, having a night or afternoon out and having people who care about you and your work.
As a person who was rather shy about her writing in the beginning, I cannot stress how important it is to have a support group to help you through the hard times and celebrate the good ones as well. Even if you cannot manage a face to face group, there are many online writing groups that can help. Each little step forward can help you on your writing journey.
