Writing Accountability Partners
By: Elizabeth Russo
Tags: Success, Accountability, Writing Life, Writing, Writing Tips

Writing Accountability Partners

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

Accountability is huge.

Making a public declaration to take on a challenge or work toward a goal consistently makes it more likely you’ll get there.

But what about behind the scenes?

Look at the writers you see as successful, and there’s likely an invisible accountability partner at their side to keep them going.

These people may be called “writing buddies” or “critique partners”, or even “beta readers”, but they are the ones keeping the writer honest, pushing that writer to be better.

Whatever you want to call that person, keep them close. Your writing will thank you.

Here’s what my accountability partner does for me — and every single one of these are mutual. As much as she has helped me, I try to be the same steady support for her.

Helps me stick to a deadline

When I declare to my accountability partner that I will send her my work-in-progress for feedback on a specific date, the chase is on.

Knowing somebody is waiting can be an incredible motivator to get the hard work done.

On my last project, I was writing all the way up to the end, but I sent it to her on the date I said I would. Which meant the drafting was finished and I could take the manuscript into the revisions phase.

Even if I’m not working toward a deadline, having an accountability partner keeps me going.

Although I try to write every day, sometimes the fiction doesn’t cooperate. At times, days go by when I don’t make any progress.

But since my accountability partner and I have a phone or video call roughly every month, those unproductive days can only stretch on for so long. Eventually, I dread having to admit I haven’t made any progress since we last spoke, and I get back in my chair until the words come.

Points out when I’m avoiding something

I have a shelved project. Most writers do.

It used to nag at me, frustrate me, and beg for attention. I tried to avoid it, and then felt even more guilty for leaving it unfinished and unpublished.

But my accountability partner won’t let me get away with that.

She’s read the story, and she knows there’s something good in those pages. So she never stops asking about it. And I love her for that.

A few months ago, she finally broke me down. I agreed to revisit the idea to see if I could mold the story into something publishable.

With renewed energy, I started redrafting. And quite honestly, this time around it was so much better. The character’s voice came through more clearly, the plot seemed to flow more logically, and the whole thing felt a lot less forced (it was my first novel, anyway).

Even if I can’t make it work this round, I know she’ll keep after me until I take the gold within that story and make something of it.

Which is why I won’t let her put a project aside for too long, either.

Cheers for the wins

This is what writing friends are for.

Writing for publication is fraught with rejection. And sometimes the wins are so small that to the average citizen it means nothing, but to us it means the world.

My accountability partner understands.

Each little positive step in the right direction becomes a mini-celebration for us. And for the big moments, well, those deserve an in-person celebration.

Because even if we writers have the most supportive spouses/partners/family (which both of us do), none of those people will truly understand the level of hard work it takes to get to the tiniest of wins.

How many writers out there jumped for joy after acquiring agent representation only to be asked, “yeah, but when will your book be out on shelves?”

An accountability partner will jump right along with you because they know.

Understands the lows

What I said about rejection is real. Sometimes it’s a little rejection that’s easy to shrug off, and other times the news strikes through to our core.

What’s worse, enough little rejections can add up, making us doubt our craft, our creativity, or even our passion for writing altogether.

For me, it’s a million tiny cuts that add up to losing faith. Somehow I’m able to justify the big ones as “part of the process”, but if I get too many small losses at once, I wilt.

Which is exactly when I reach out to my accountability partner.

I tell her what happened, and how low I feel.

The beauty of an accountability partner is that they don’t judge you, they commiserate with you — because we’ve all been there.

When I reached out after a particularly painful moment of questioning the direction my writing was taking, she listened. She understood.

And then she talked some sense into me.