To celebrate 13 weeks of winter, Winterviews is conducting interviews with various book and author communities across the internet. Once a week, we’ll interview a new community to find out what makes that community great.
Join us on the hashtag #13Winterviews, or join in the fun with tonight’s community spotlight, #WeeknightWriters! Without further ado, lets get down to the interview!
Can you tell us a little bit about #WeeknightWriters?
#WeeknightWriters is a Twitter chat that runs every Thursday from 7-8PM EST. We discuss a different topic each week, usually about writing craft or the business of being an author. The chat is an open community, a place where any writer can come to hang out for an hour. We have a core group of around seven people, several occasional attendees, and new people entering the community all the time.
I also run a #WeeknightWriters server on Discord, which provides a mixture of accountability and education to a small group of writers. I keep this group small to encourage people to form deeper relationships, but do occasionally post a link in the Twitter chat so new members can join.
What prompted the idea to start #WeeknightWriters?
A lot of Twitter chats in the EST time zone run quite late, at eight or nine or even 10PM. I wanted to reclaim my evenings as time to spend with my partner. I also knew that my tendency to work late exacerbated my insomnia. But I didn’t want to lose the sense of camaraderie that I gained by participated in writing chats. So I decided to start my own chat and run it at 7PM.
The early hour means that #WeeknightWriters has also become a haven for disabled authors, many of whom don’t have the energy to stay up later.
Why is having a community helpful?
A strong support network comprised of people who truly listen, who appreciate you as a whole person rather than as what you can do for them, protects us in a variety of ways. When we have people to talk through our experiences with, we are better able to process those experiences in a useful way. This allows us to live our best lives and can even protect us from things like PTSD.
Writing, especially writing for publication, is a rollercoaster ride at best and a long, demoralizing haul at worst. And the people we see in our everyday lives often don’t get it. They don’t understand why we write or how difficult it is. So they don’t know how to comfort us when the writing process goes wrong. We need writing community because they are the only ones who get it. There’s also a lot to be learned from other writers.
What is unique about #WeeknightWriters?
Most writing chats on Twitter focus entirely on the writing. Week after week, they discuss topics related to different aspects of the craft. They might talk about things like how to set writing goals, or work with an editor, but they never dive deep into the writer’s life outside of their craft.
I endeavor to consider the whole person when I create topics for #WeeknightWriters. Every aspect of our lives has some bearing on our writing, so it’s important to consider all of it. In a culture where we are taught to compartmentalize and focus on our productivity to the exclusion of all else, a holistic approach is also a revolutionary one. I make space for people to discuss other parts of their lives, and even did twelve whole weeks of health-focused chats last summer.
In what way has being a part of #WeeknightWriters made you stronger as a professional?
Way? More like ways. Many, many ways. I’ve learned a lot about how to facilitate educational conversations and encourage deep participation, for starters. I’ve developed an enormous amount of confidence in my ability to work with groups—something that isn’t always instinctive to me as an author and a freelancer.
Most of all, I’ve realized what I have to offer the writing community. Specifically, I’ve realized that the best way for me to help writers is to educate them about the business side of things. So many writers, at least in the Twitter community, understand a lot about craft but haven’t spent a day learning about business. In response to this, I’ve created the Business for Authors newsletter, which shares biweekly business tips, and released a mini-workbook, Branding for Fiction Authors.
Hosting Author
Dianna Gunn
