Image Credit: Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay images. One photo taken by me, Allison Symes.
By the time this goes live, I will have just returned from my annual jaunt to The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick. As ever, a good time was had by all (and far too good a time had by me, writing events have their social side which doesn’t necessarily do that much for the old waistline!).
I learned so much from the workshops and courses. I do think this is one aspect where writing is good for you. You keep learning all of the time and developing your craft. That keeps you on your toes, encourages you to up your game and when, hopefully, publication successes come as a result of this, that too encourages you to keep going and it encourages you to see if you can be published again. At least that has been my experience to date.
Why Writing and Meeting Up With Other Writers is Good For You
Writing is so good for the brain! No danger of inactivity here.
Meeting up with other writers is great. As well as the social side (forget the waistline, this is just fun!), it is just so good to be with people who understand your own drive to write, whether or not they’re in the same field as you. The workshops and courses are enlightening because you get to see a snapshot of the writing world over a few days too. Above all, it is great to escape your own desk for a while and expand your horizons.
I have learned so much from other writers while chatting over teas, coffees, lunches etc. It was another writer, many years ago, who told me about The Society of Authors, information I’ve had good cause to appreciate since then.
When I first started going to events (I used to go to the weekend Isle of Wight Writers’ Weekend, and I met my future publisher there too!), I was so nervous about not knowing anyone. I had a chronic case of Imposter Syndrome. I know now many authors experience this. What helps enormously is when other writers make newbies welcome and the ice breaks quickly.
Instant Topic of Conversation
The one thought I took with me to my first event, and which cheered me up no end when the nerves struck, was I did have an instant topic of conversation if I could get chatting to someone. I could ask them what they wrote and they could ask me the same. I did prep something for me to say.
Now I would pass this on as a good tip for writers because writers do love to be asked what they write. So it pays to be ready for when someone asks you the same question. We appreciate someone else taking an interest for one thing! But I have found this one topic, over the years, continues to break the ice and get conversations going. Friendships are made, which I treasure. But having, in advance, a line or two ready to explain what I did writing wise was so useful. It helped my confidence levels too. I knew I could say something about my stories.
Whether you go to a big event, a day one, or a local writing class, you get to meet others with the same hopes you have – of getting your work “out there”. I learned years ago I am not in competition with any other writer. I can only write as me. They can only write as themselves. Where the mutual sympathy comes in is when we get to chat about the frustrations of writing and publishing. As friendships develop, it is also fantastic to have “your tribe” to share good news with, which is something I continue to appreciate.
I have some lovely book shelves at home where the books on it are mine, anthologies I’ve contributed to, or are written (and signed for me) by author friends. Every time I pass by those shelves, I think of the writers concerned and where I met them. Good things to think about!
Learning to Network
So if you are wondering about going to a writing event, do go. You will get more out of it than you might think and it will do wonders for boosting your networking capacities!
I learned to lose my fear of networking on realising it was about talking about what I love – writing – and hearing others talking about their love of writing too. What binds all authors together, I think, is our love of the written word and we can, do, and should celebrate that with each other. I have a far deeper appreciation for the work that goes into crafting a fabulous story or piece of non-fiction because I know something of the hard work which goes into creating, editing, and submitting work anywhere.
Meeting Up with Writers Online
I recently had the great joy of supporting my friend, Rosemary Johnson’s online book launch for her Past and Present short story collection (Bridge House Publishing). That was fun to do. I was her compere and a fascinating discussion took place. Rosemary also read from her collection. It was fun. Everyone seemed to enjoy it.
As with the monthly flash fiction group I run for the Association of Christian Writers, it wasn’t possible to get together in person for this one. But writers still met up and supported each other using social media to do. (Highly appropriately too – social media is meant to be social after all).
Online meetings came into their own during the pandemic, of course, but they are still useful now. While you can’t share a drink at the bar with writers you meet this way (unless you have your own bar and some writer friends in the venue with you at the time of the meeting!), writers can still get together this way. Again this kind of event can boost confidence.
I can’t think of any writer I know who, if given the choice, wouldn’t focus on their writing rather than the marketing we all need to do. But this is another reason to meet up with other writers when you can. Not only can you support each other with events like this, you can learn from how other writers do this kind of thing and work out whether it would suit you or not. But you have to know the writers doing this in the first place!
Conclusion
It is a great irony, I think, that writing is a solitary profession, as a rule, but every writer I know, given half the chance, proves to be very sociable indeed at writing events! Maybe we need something like these to bring us out of our literary shells for a while…
Related Posts:-
Read interviews with Chandler’s Ford writer Allison Symes: Part 1 and Part 2.
Read blog posts by Allison Symes published on Chandler’s Ford Today.
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