Connecting With Writers In The Real World
Why joining a writing group is so important..
When I originally had the dream of becoming a writer it was back in the days when you could hide away in your garret with your typewriter, go under a clever pseudonym, and no one need ever know! These days the life of a writer is very different and, to be honest, I struggle with this modern version. I bought into that dream of the recluse; there was some appeal in the hiding away at the time.
I know many writers will say they find it difficult putting themselves out there. We are programmed to write, not to be skilled promoters, marketing experts or persuasive public speakers. (Although you might argue that some are better at promoting themselves than they are at the actual writing!)
But in order to survive as a writer these days, we have to do what is required of us. To think that your tweet from the UK can travel across the world in a matter of seconds is mind-blowing. The connections and possibilities are endless.
Navigating your way through all of this, however, as a debut author, can be very daunting. Especially if you’re me! So I am grateful to be able to hook up with fellow writers on social media. It amazes me how generous they can be, strangers really. The successful ones I mean – giving a hand up to those just starting out, especially as it’s a ludicrously crowded market.
Despite this, there is still no substitute for having real, face-to-face time with fellow writers closer to home.
In fact, it was only when I joined a writing group that I could actually say: “I AM A WRITER”, without mumbling those words into my sleeve.
I’ve been a member of Script Yorkshire for about eight years. We’re run by volunteers and our membership is made up of working professionals through to basically anyone who has a serious interest in scriptwriting. We don’t get funding but have a small membership fee so we can put on workshops and events, run page-to-stage nights and we have five branches across Yorkshire. I help run the Organisation and am on the Board. We have some eminent patrons too – among whom, Alan Bennett, Alan Ayckbourn, Sally Wainwright, and our much missed David Nobbs who sadly passed away last year.
I’ve made so many friends through Script Yorkshire, and I would have given up writing long ago if it hadn’t been for them. I feel ‘normal’ when I’m with them, like I fit in. And the best thing about the group is that everyone feels the same. It’s a place where it’s okay to fail, although you soon grasp that it isn’t failure at all – because it’s about learning and developing. And you never stop doing that. Even the very best writers at the top of their game tell you that.
Without my local writing community I swear I’d go bananas. Because, actually, that dream I had of writing in my garret, hiding away, is extremely lonely. There’s just no substitute for the face-to-face, for sharing ideas and feedback with fellow writers, having a laugh or a moan with them (or a beer!) – simply spending time with folk on the same wavelength as yourself. We all seem to be losing this real-life interaction from our lives in general, but that’s a whole other discussion to be had.
If you’re not a member of a local writing group, or can’t find one where you feel you belong, then maybe start one.
June’s debut psychological thriller Losing Juliet is published by Harper Collins Killer Reads.
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June Taylor lives in the UK in Leeds, Yorkshire. She studied French and has an MA in Scriptwriting. She mainly worked as a TV Promos Writer/Producer but has done many things from selling cream cakes to teaching English as a foreign language. She loves to travel, especially with her husband. In 2011 she was runner-up in the Times/Chicken House Children’s Fiction Competition with her YA novel but these days concentrates on adult psychological thrillers. She is on the Board of Script Yorkshire and helps out with Leeds Big Bookend, the city’s ‘rock festival for words’.
You can contact June via her website: www.junetaylor.co.uk
Or Twitter: @joonLT
Category: Contemporary Women Writers, How To and Tips
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