The notion of writers sitting alone in dusty attics, pouring over manuscripts by candlelight doesn’t really reflect how we work today. Unless there’s a power cut (the lights are currently flickering as a storm batters our rural village). It’s true that if we want to write and to share stories, we are the only ones who can do this. This doesn’t mean that we have to do it alone though.
Writing often takes places in gaps, spaces, slices of time carefully cut out of our daily lives. And sometimes, it isn’t enough to put the time aside and to say we’ll write. We need to know that we’re not alone. You might have attended writing workshops, author talks or education in person or online. The collaborative and shared nature of these spaces are breeding grounds for ideas, for new words, for feedback. Our writing is not a static object. It evolves and the more life we can soak up, the richer it becomes. Yes, only you can write what needs to be written. But you’re not the only one doing it, and you don’t have to do it alone.
Write-Ins are not an original idea. Many organisations have run retreats, writing hours or similar for years. During lockdown, I introduced them as part of my Northern Writers Studio project. A way to get together when the situation was keeping us apart. What these spaces gave us was transformational. More than just an hour set aside for writing, they became essential. They were a promise to ourselves that our words matter, that we are writers and that we are not alone. Writing is a community, and you don’t have to travel or in fact go anywhere to find your own writing tribe.
Since closing the Studio in July, I’ve missed these regular writing get-togethers. Seeing other writers working, knowing that I’m not the only one scribbling, struggling, thriving. So I’m bringing them back in the hope that we can come together again as a community and keep writing.
Every Write-In lasts one hour, with five minutes to say hello and set intentions at the beginning and five minutes to see how we all did at the end. In-between you have fifty minutes to write. What you work on is up to you.
If you sign up as a paid subscriber, you’ll be invited to regular Zoom Write-Ins. These will run on Mondays at 7pm, starting in December. I’ll announce the dates in advance. And as more people join, I’ll offer more times and days to suit as many people as possible.
Hope to write with you soon.
Sarah x