Writing is a lonely endeavor, but it doesn’t have to be. Finding the right writing support and surrounding yourself with like-minded people can help you get the most out of your writing journey and see your project through to completion.
While there are hundreds of writing groups and communities out there, only a few of them offer accountability to meet your writing goals, let alone structure with a mentor who can keep you on track.
Luckily for you, Lauren’s Write Your Friggin’ Book Already™ program offers a proven step-by-step blueprint to get you from idea to publishable book in a year. This amazing community of fellow writers and passionate storytellers will help you make your writing dreams a reality in a one-year-long mastermind where you’ll get access to a full writing dream team, monthly group coaching calls, professional beta readers, mentors, and even access to 2 months bonus to the Path to Publish™ program to help you put your book out into the world.
This program only opens once a year, and seats are filling up fast!
Go to writeyourfrigginbookalready.com and apply today!
Applications close on March 5th.
Thank you so much for tuning in today! If you haven’t listened to episode 21 where Lauren interviews Jen Rao on Clearing Clutter and Creating Physical Space in Your Life for Writing, then go back and check it out!
We want to know who you are and where you’ve been! Come hang out with Lauren in the Writers Squad Facebook group and over on Instagram @laurenmariefleming. We can’t wait to chat with you there!
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Resources mentioned in this episode:
–Write Your Friggin’ Book Already™ program.
Book recommendation of the week:
Passing Strange by Ellen Klages
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Wondering why we don’t link to Amazon? Check out Episode 2 of the Business School for Writers Podcast to hear all about how supporting independent bookstores helps you see more stories like yours out in the world.
Transcript:
Hello and welcome back to the School for Writers podcast. Today, we’re talking about the number one way to make your writing dreams a reality: getting yourself a writing group, or what I like to call a Dream Team.
We’re going to go into why you need a dream team if you want to write a book, how to find a writing squad, and what to look for when you join one.
Because writing doesn’t have to be lonely. In fact, it shouldn’t be. If you want to be successful as a writer, if you want to write your friggin’ book already, you need friends, colleagues, coaches, and mentors helping you along the way.
First off, let’s talk about the why.
Because really, everything you do should have a solid why, a reason that it’s important to do it. Otherwise, why bother?
If you want to know why you should have a writing group, I’m going to repeat the statistic from the intro to this episode: you are 92% more likely to follow through with a goal if you have an accountability buddy.
92% is a practical guarantee!
In my Write Your Friggin’ Book Already program, we have a handful of people who went to college to be a writer, got grad degrees in writing and everything, and yet it took them getting into a writing group to finally finish their books.
That is the power of a writing group.
That is why you absolutely need a writing group if you want to finish a book. You can write a book on your own, but getting it finished and ready to be published, that takes a team.
So, what is a writing group?
A basic writing group is just a group of writers that get together. That’s it.
And while that’s great many people, I prefer something a little more formal and I love a good flashy name, which is why instead of looking for a writing group, I try to create Dream Teams.
In my world, Dream Teams are more comprehensively supportive than just a writing group.
Think of Your Dream Team like a cheerleading squad all working together to make your writing dreams a reality.
It doesn’t have to be formal, although that does really help, and it absolutely shouldn’t be complicated, with bits and pieces pulled together from this place or that.
What you want is a centralized group of people who regularly check in with you about where you are in the writing process, and hold you accountable to hitting your writing targets and goals.
Who do you put on your Dream Team?
On that team, you want colleagues and peers that are in the same place as you. That’s so important. It helps you feel less alone during the ups and downs of the writing journey.
But you also want to make sure you get a mentor or guide, someone who has taken this path before and can show you the way.
A great Dream Team, one that will actually get you to your dream destination, is made up of both peers and mentors.
I think that’s what separates my concept of a Dream Team and your usual writing group.
Too often writing groups are just friends coming together to hold each other accountable to write.
I don’t know about you and your friends, but me and my friends, we get kinda chatty. Before COVID, when I went to coffeeshops to write with people, I would spend 99% of the time talking and 1% trying to think about what to write.
So that meant that the people I gathered together to help hold me accountable to writing, actually kept me from doing it.
Friendly writing groups have never worked for me. I’ve always needed a more formal structure with a mentor or coach leading the group, someone whose responsibility it was to keep us all on track to our writing goals.
AND I needed peers who were going through the process with me. I needed both to be successful and hit my writing goals.
I want you take a moment to think about who could be on your Dream Team?
Who will be the peers on this journey with you?
Who will be the mentors or coaches acting as your guide when you all get lost or stuck?
Yes, you absolutely can have a writing group that’s just you and your friends, but you’re still going to need someone or something to hold structure and accountability for that group.
So what’s your structure going to be? And who is in charge of holding that structure and keeping people accountable?
I would aim to have 8-10 peers and 2-4 mentors on your list. Much more than that, you’ll feel overwhelmed. Much less than that, then you might not get the support and accountability you need.
Getting stuck coming up with your Dream Team?
I personally know how hard it can be to create your Dream Team list. When I first started out writing, I didn’t know any other writers. I had to seek them out through writing classes and AOL chat rooms (yeah, I’m that old).
My first peers were people in college classes with me. My first mentors were high school English teachers and authors whose books on writing I read. It wasn’t ideal, but it was a start.
If you don’t have a Dream Team of your own, fear not! There are plenty out there for you to join.
If you don’t currently have a Dream Team, you absolutely need to find yourself a formal writing group to join.
Now you can call up some friends and ask them to meet twice a month to hold each other accountable. That does work. However, I *highly* encourage you to make it something more formal.
Go find yourself a writing group that’s led by someone who knows what they’re doing, something that has a strong structure and schedule for you to follow, and that has a proven track record of success.
There are plenty of programs out there like this, but I’m partial to this wonderfully amazing glorious lovely one called Write Your Friggin’ Book Already™, or WYFBA as we like to call it around here.
When I created WYFBA, I took everything I wanted and needed in the book writing process and put it all into one deluxe year-long mastermind type program. I took everything I loved from past writing groups I’ve been in, left what I hated, and added some special sauce on top to keep it fun and interesting.
WYFBA is built around the concept of your writing Dream Team. You’ve got me as your mentor teaching you the proven blueprint my clients and I have used to write dozens of books, plus WYBA coaches who have already been through the program before and can help you along the way.
You’ll have a large group of peers going through the journey with you, cheering you on during your wins and supporting you during the hard times.
Plus, you’ll have a smaller intimate pod that you can check in with regularly and who will help you edit your book when the time comes.
It really is the most amazing and complete book writing program out there — trust me, I’ve looked and didn’t find what I needed, which is why I created WYFBA.
And, best of all, what I created works. We have a 95% success rate! The only people in WYFBA who haven’t finished a readable draft of their book had some kind of major health or family emergency — and even they have a solid draft, despite life’s obstacles.
That’s what having a strong writing group will do for you: get you to your dreams faster and with less stress, and hold you accountable to taking action, even when life happens.
Write Your Friggin’ Book Already™ only opens once a year, and that happens to be now! So if you’re looking for a writing group with a built in Dream Team and proven track record of success in getting people to actually finish their books in a year, check out WriteYourFrigginBookAlready.com. That link is also in your show notes.
Spaces in the program are limited and applications close March 5, so go right now and apply if you want to join this amazing group of people all here to help you finish your book in the next twelve months.
Apply right now, don’t wait! Go to WriteYourFrigginBookAlready.com to get me as your mentor and join the best Dream Team out there.
While I’d love to have you in Write Your Friggin’ Book Already and I truly do think it’s the best book writing program on the Internet, I understand that it’s not for everyone, so if you’re looking for something else, go find it. Just make sure you sign up for something, even if it’s simply a weekly check in with a friend.
Because you cannot do this alone. You need mentors and peers to help you make writing a regular part of your life.
Take action right now. Apply to Write Your Friggin’ Book Already, the link to do so is in your show notes! Text friends to join you in a writing group and put someone in charge of making sure you don’t talk the whole time. Find a mentor. Do something right now to form that accountability and support you need.
Because the world needs your story now more than ever.
And because I cannot wait to read your book.
Go find your Dream Team, and I’ll see you in the next episode.