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 #WriteAndWine on twitter! Without further ado, lets get down to the interview!
Can you tell us a little bit about #WriteAndWine?
Of course! It’s pretty simple: we meet on Twitter once a week, drink wine (or tea, coffee, water, insert-your-preferred-beverage-here) and “whine” (read: talk, but the wine/whine double meaning is definitely implied) about writing and mental health.
What prompted the idea to start #WriteAndWine?
It was born from a typo. I was tweeting about National Novel Writing Month and I accidentally typed “NaNoWineO” instead of “NaNoWriMo”. I joked that this should be a thing- we could drink wine and whine about our novels, do word sprints, that sort of thing, and a friend suggested I actually do it. So, #NaNoWineO was born. As November wound down, I asked if anybody wanted a year-round chat, which prompted the switch to the #WriteAndWine hashtag.
What is unique about #WriteAndWine?
While we’re predominately a writing chat, we put a heavy focus on mental health. It started as a NaNoWriMo event, and because NaNoWriMo is a really intense experience, I knew I wanted to have a mental health check-in somewhere in the middle. I picked the third week, because that felt like a good time to pop the hood and see how things were running, so to speak. Who was feeling burnt out? Who was struggling? How could the community help them? When we switched to a year-round format, I carried over the mental health aspect. I mean, let’s face it, mental health shouldn’t just be considered during high-stress, intense times. We all deal with year-round stressors like work and school, mental illness, and life changes affecting ourselves and our creative work. So, while we normally discuss things like character development, world building, and reading like a writer, one chat per month is reserved for mental health topics like burnout and anxiety. I find that it’s important to have a space to talk openly about mental health, and that discussions like these help us get to know one another better as both writers and as people.
Why is having a community helpful?
I’ve always found that it’s important to feel like someone is in your corner. You need people to lean on. You need people who understand what you’re going through. You need people who are willing to bolster you, support you, guide you; someone who can help you shake off the cobwebs when you’re feeling stuck. Everyone in the #WriteAndWine community has a different story: we’re mothers and fathers, pet parents, chefs, lawyers, students, bloggers – but we all have a passion for writing, and we all understand the struggles that come with that. Even if people in our day-to-day lives don’t get it, we know that we have a whole group of people who do, and that goes a long way. We can vent to each other, help each other work through problems, share our triumphs, so on and so forth. I know it helps me to know that I always have my #WriteAndWine family to lean on. I hope it’s a comfort to community members, too.
What three things does someone not know about you or #WriteAndWine?
One thing I don’t think a lot of people realize is that we have a “Happy Hour” group chat that runs 24/7, 365 days a year for community members to check in with one another, talk through mental health problems, get writing advice, etc. This “Happy Hour” exists in Twitter DMs, and anyone who has participated in at least one regular #WriteAndWine chat can be added! As far as myself, I know I tend to be quite transparent, but I’m not sure if many people know that I really love reading biographies and memoirs and that I used to write blog posts for physical therapists, local restaurants, and wedding websites.
Who are some of your biggest/most positive influences in the community or in general?
Everyone in the #WriteAndWine community is incredible. I’m so grateful to know this fantastic group of creatives, and even more thankful to have them be a part of my little internet family. I do want to give a special shout-out to some of the core members of the community- a few who have been there since the beginning, a few who have hopped on board along the way, all of whom have helped make this community what it is: Alex, Rob, Mykki, Ariel, and Kayleigh. They’ve continuously stepped up to help me run chats, have helped spread the word about the community, and have always had my back.
Any advice or quote that you live by?
“Stay hungry, stay young, stay foolish, stay curious, and above all stay humble.” – Tom Hiddleston. I actually had this written on a chalkboard in my bedroom through high school and college, and I now have it on a letter board in my office. It’s a good reminder to seek opportunity, to find chances to learn and grow, to stay childishly curious, and to live with humility and grace.
#WriteAndWine
@lexivranick
lexivranick.com
Hosting Authors
Lex Vranick- @lexivranick
