In the 1600s, writers and poets would gather for an evening of artistic expression and discussion. Known as a literary academy, the all-men or all-women groups served as a meeting point for sharing topics of philosophy along with art in the drafting process. This column honors that sentiment with thoughts on craft and writing.
Years ago, I attended a talk by Wendy C. Ortiz where she talked about her writing practice in the early stages of her career. After her MFA and before her published books, Ortiz used to meet her friend, Emily Rapp Black, at a coffee shop on Sunday mornings. They shared pages and gave each other feedback. Ortiz told us the story of an essay she put together on a whim and after several rounds of revisions on those Sunday dates, she got published in Modern Love.
Read any book and you’ll find the Acknowledgements in the back filled with people they are grateful for. So frequently there’s that phrase “it takes a village” nestled in there somewhere. Obviously there’s the lit agency and the publishing staff. Then comes a list of individuals who reviewed drafts.
I don’t know how much of a ‘hot take’ this is, but in my opinion, having strong, consistent writing partners is one of the most important relationships you can develop in your literary career. When people argue whether it’s worth it to get an MFA, one of the few reasons for it is the abundance of potential peers that could become your lifelong writing partners.
In my personal journey with writing partners, I learned about the type of people I wanted to work with. I searched for people with the same work-ethic as me, people who set deadlines and keep to them. I sought out people who provided deep critical feedback.
I made a small project and wrote down the different writing partners I’ve had over the years thinking about how we met and how we worked together.
I completed my MFA with a handful of friends in different genres. We met once a month on video call, taking turns to submit a short story/essay/chapter which we would read and discuss. We set aside a whole Sunday morning to sit and talk. I appreciated that atmosphere and having writing check-ins with folks who were also balancing their creative practice with the other demands of life.
While I lived in L.A., I ran into a fellow ESL teacher in the lounge. We connected over our love of the PEN America organization, which I only noted because of her tote. One summer, we hashed out a generative writing challenge. Every week we took turns sending the other person writing. It had to be 500 words. If we missed the deadline, we owed the other $20. Our late fees caused us to stay on track to write, and it was also nice to produce work that would be in front of another set of eyes. And our short pieces were frequently fodder for more essays to develop.
While reading a heartfelt essay in The Audacity’s Emerging Writer Series, I noticed a few mentions of neighborhoods where I lived. Her bio stated she was living in the same country as me. Her social media was posted, so I reached out just to praise her published essay and to ask if she lived in the same city as I did. I didn’t expect an answer. If anything, I was glad to be able to tell her how much I loved her essay. I was surprised when she responded. We became friends and we would meet up from time to time to discuss our writing. We have been in touch since and sometimes swap pages.
As I embarked on writing a novel, I enrolled in a Year-Long Novel Workshop at Pioneer Valley. The class had a monthly rotation of accountability partners. One month I was assigned with two women with literary backgrounds. We gelled so well in that month that we floated the idea of continuing to meet when the class finished. We meet monthly, swapping pages and having long conversations on Zoom, working out how to help each other improve the pages.
Now that I’ve put it down, I realize that when looking for writing partners, I endeavored to make myself a strong candidate for others. I worked on being self-disciplined in my work, I paid attention to deadlines, and I always worked to provide careful feedback. I had no specific pool of applicants or plans in mind. But in engaging with the literary community, I found some like-minded souls.
"When people argue whether it’s worth it to get an MFA, one of the few reasons for it is the abundance of potential peers that could become your lifelong writing partners." While I've not earned an MFA, the essence of this rings so true and has been revealed as true across experiences I've had both in the writing world and other realms. Anytime I've enrolled in a class of some sort, ostensibly to learn more about the subject at hand, I realize retrospectively that the most valuable takeaway was a connection(s) formed with other humans striving along the same path. Sometimes the connection can be something like this substack, which regularly inspires and affirms my writing practice (thank you!), and which I likely wouldn't have subscribed to, had I not connected with you when I took one of your workshops.
This post is timely for me as I have been thinking about the same concept. I have a group I run of a community of writers but we don't always get together to workshop pieces. There is a consistency I crave for that regular feedback.
I have several writers that I exchange work one on one with but it is sporactic.
Many classes or intensive workshops I have taken I anticipated making a group out of those natural groupings but it hasn't worked that way.
Thank you for sharing !