3 writer’s groups for accountability and community
Part of my 2024 resolutions were to build more of a community with my writing life. I have a few critique partners who I trade work with, but I really wanted a place with others where I could chat about writing and creativity but not necessarily because I’m sharing work with these people. I tried out a few different writer’s groups to find the one that works for me—here are 3 that I recommend (including the one I am part of now).
London Writers’ Salon
Early on in the pandemic, I would join LWS for their writers’ hours. It’s an hour of writing quietly in a Zoom room with people from around the world. The community became quite popular and well-known (they hold multiple writers’ hours daily and had gotten featured in the NYT). Eventually they grew into an online platform powered, last I knew, by Circle. That is something I love about LWS—you can easily connect with any one of the other hundreds of writers via a simple message on their platform, asking for advice or merely talking about anything relevant to your work. Depending on how much you pledge per month, you get all kinds of benefits, including access to workshops, accountability discussions, and more.
I really liked LWS but ultimately found the group too large for my liking, and there weren’t many other folks writing romance that I was able to connect with. It’s great if you want a plentiful option of writing hours to hold yourself accountable, a really wide net of people who take their writing seriously and are willing to invest in it, and classes or workshops from professionals in the industry for inspiration. If you’re writing poetry or a memoir, you’ll have a lot of friends here!
Paperbacks & Co.
I tried out Paperbacks & Co. a couple years ago and it just wasn’t the right time in my life to give it a real go. So I tried it out again recently and found everyone involved to be really lovely! Something I love about Paperbacks & Co., aside from the spot-on branding, is that they are a group for women and non-binary folks only. Coming from LWS, which is all genders, I didn’t realize how much I was craving a space like that.
Paperbacks & Co. is a much smaller group, which was very important to me in building my community. I most recently did a trial for the power hours and genuinely enjoyed meeting once a week to discuss writing and write in companionable silence for a while. At the time of my trial, they were transitioning from a Discord community to Substack, so it lacked a space for me to connect with other writers.
I still highly recommend Paperbacks & Co. if you’re looking to sprinkle in a little community and writing time with some amazing people and you want a women and non-binary only space (huge plus).
The Writer’s Helm
I found the right spot for me with The Writer’s Helm. This is also a small group that’s also openly welcome to neurodivergent and queer folks (although if you’re not, then you’re still very welcome as well). I adore so many things about them—the two people running it are professionals in the industry, they have a Slack account where I can connect with everyone else, they have a session or two every week where we just get together and talk about anything on our minds, and a more dedicated session each month for people to sign up and get more directed assistance with something. There are almost daily writer’s hours, although I only attend a couple per week, but you are never pressured to turn your camera on, and you’re also never pressured to just write, write, write. If you want to work on anything else related to your writing (research, reading for inspo, etc.), you’re welcome to. They’re organized, they’re kind, and they’re a lot of fun!
I recommend The Writer’s Helm if you’re looking for a friendly and supportive group of people to discuss writing with, you want to be surrounded by people who understand a writer’s life is about more than just writing all the time (even every day!), and if you’re looking for a few extra writing activities to spice up your week.