However, it can be hard to find some like-minded tribe to support your writing. Writing, in particular, doesn’t seem to lend itself to community because writing is most often something we do alone in the privacy of our own homes. Nevertheless, I still think community is key to productive writing because writing alone and in self-imposed isolation is tough, if not outright impossible.
Building Writing Communities
I’m building new communities of people and relationships with others to support people in their creative ventures. I'm also thinking about how to have more joy in writing. What might shift for us as writers and people if we looked for those moments in which writing feels joyful and creative? What if we allowed struggle and joy to overlap? Struggle and joy in the creative process might be better thought of as a both/and than an either/or.
Re-imagining the Creative Writing Life
When I tell people that I’m planning a writing retreat in Mexico, a lot of people are like, “Isn’t that just an excuse for a vacation with some ‘writing’ thrown in to make it sound more serious?” I mean, I get it. Going on a writing retreat in some exotic place to get some writing done sounds too good to be true. Here’s the truth: writing retreats actually help people get writing done. In fact, people should be retreating more.