My wife and I moved to and from Boston last year. We’re still digesting, in some ways, the profoundly negative experiences we had there. But I don’t want to linger in the negative; there were some bright spots in our time there.
One of those was, unquestionably, Trident Booksellers and Cafe. While it does all the things its name implies, it is also a place which had an incredible assortment of events. Really, check this list out. More places need to be trying to build community like this place was.
But one event caught my eye more than any of the others: the weekly Silent Book Club and Writer’s Night. This is one of the most successful writer’s events I’ve seen– and part of that is how they broke it down:
Writer’s Night Phase 1: The Introduction
There was an introduction at the beginning of every Writer’s Night. The phases were broken down for the attendees, everyone made sure they were in the right event (writers there for writing, readers there for reading), and then everyone did a quick rundown of their name, pronouns, and what they were working on that night.
Writer’s Night Phase 2: The Writing
It may or may not surprise you, reading a blog about writing, that the hardest part of being a writer is actually sitting down to do it. In my classroom, I always made room for uninterrupted writing time. It should not have been such a surprise that one of the parts that made this event successful is that it is a space and time dedicated to writing.
One of the things that has actually surprised me over the years is how little this time of free work is planned for at writer’s events. I’ve been to writing groups where there is no writing time alotted– just a period of time for people to share their work and talk about the craft (which isn’t unhelpful, to be clear). I’ve been to writing events where there is only time to write to a prompt (this is most of them). I had seen these sorts of events come and go so often that I found it a refreshing reminder that WHAT WRITER’S NEED IS TO WRITE.
The person running the event set a timer for an hour. There was free water and we were encouraged to order coffee and/or food. But, beyond our orders coming up, we were to write.
Writer’s Night Phase 3: Writer or Share
The second hour of time allowed us the freedom to choose: do we keep writing, or do we share with another writer or two? Whatever I chose, I got a lot out of it. I was invigorated by my conversations with another writer– whether we were finishing something or stuck. I was also invigorated by continuing to work on something that had caught my imagination.
This part, interacting with each other, usually gets first billing at similar events. I get it. Writer’s are introverts who need/want to meet with and talk to other writers. Covid made us even more isolated. A lot of events since the pandemic have focused on reconnecting us– and that’s not a bad thing! But as hard as it is to meet up with similarly-minded people, it’s also hard to make space in your life for writing. That’s why I’m glad we got the chance to meet other writers, but that it wasn’t forced and it wasn’t the primary reason for being there.
I would follow the same logic if you want a writing class segment: make it optional/not intrusive on the main reason the writers have gathered. Teach a quick lesson and get out of their way.
Thank you for reading!
I hope that you enjoyed this post and that you think about what you want in a Writer’s Night! Let me know if you start one of your own and how it goes!
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