Group Writing

It’s been a hard month, friends. Also, it feels like it’s mostly over and yet we’re not even half done and I may die.

As you guys may or may not know, for my day job I do freelance and contract editing and formatting work. In general, I specialize in helping indie and self-publishing authors make their books look and sound professional.

(I also do a variety of other work, ranging from making scientific papers easier for non-science people to read, correcting marketing materials, proofreading blog posts before they get posted, etc.)

Do I have a point? Not really except I almost forgot I had to post here today.

(Also, I have a weird puncture wound on the back of my hand, wherever the heck that came from.)

But to get to the point, sometimes it’s very nice to belong to a group of writers. Not just so you have someone else to talk to about weird writer things (like strange Google searches and antsy, unpredictable characters), but because they can actually keep you accountable and help keep your motivation up.

(And remind you that it’s your blogging day.)

When I get bogged down in work writing/editing, it can be even harder to pull myself into my own writing/editing. Yesterday, for example, I spent an hour content editing a science fiction novel, spent close to three hours explaining to a client how his bosses want his documents to work, and edited the heck out of a lesson for one of my contract jobs. I did manage some time editing my novel, so it wasn’t a wash.

It’s always worth it to do your own stuff if you can manage it. Editing for other people can be horribly soul-sucking at times, even if you are getting paid. For me, at least, working on my own stuff is more refreshing. (Although yesterday was a horrible slog of a day.)

And I like working with other writers. It feels like it lessens the workload, that somehow it’s easier to whip out an 80K novel if you’re only writing half of it. It’s not, for the record, but just having someone by your side makes the whole thing more enjoyable.

This may just be me. I find this to be true even if I’m fighting with the other author about everything. Maybe I’m just desperate for human interaction.

Personally, I think every writer should try a joint story at least once. It hurts nothing, can be extremely fruitful and fulfilling, and exposes you to ideas you’d probably never come up with yourself. Win win all around.

(I’m working on this group. We’ll see how it goes.)