You Need to Stop Writing Alone and Join a Community
By: Jack Heimbigner
Tags: Creativity, Self Improvement, Relationships, Inspiration, Writing

Want to know something about getting better at writing? The only way you will really get better at writing is when you start connecting with other writers. You need other writers to learn, grow, and improve.

How do I know this is true?

Because writers have been doing this for ages. C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien were doing this with the famous Inklings. The top writers here Medium do this with each other. All through the ages of writing, there have been very consistent themes: writers connecting with each other.

And we need to be doing this today!

When we connect with other writers three things tend to happen.

We share what we are writing and get honest and helpful feedback. New ideas are developed for our writing such as books, courses, and articles. We begin to understand we are not alone and we are all on the same side.

Over the last two and a half years of focusing on growing my writing, I have learned a ton from a lot of different writers. I have received help and I have given help. And I have learned amazing things about the creative process.

And you need to do that too. I want to share a few stories to encourage you today to reach out to other writers so you can connect, learn, and grow.

Honest and Helpful Feedback

About a year ago Tom Kuegler reached out to me about after I liked a post of his on LinkedIn. Instead of being surface level, I asked a couple of questions and we started a dialogue about growing a following no matter where you are on the internet.

Through our conversations, I was able to connect with some amazing writers he had gathered together and learned a ton about online marketing, writing, and growing my audience. And it all started with one writer reaching out to another.

As a result, my LinkedIn following and Medium following has grown substantially, and I try to reach out to at least one new person a week.

New Ideas: Books, Courses, Articles

More recently, I have been connecting with Jim Woods over articles on Medium. He and I have been exchanging ideas and I know I have received some great insight on articles I have been writing.

He also gave me a great idea that I had glossed over a while back to create an online course. Which this idea was a good one for me to learn something new and grow in other ways.

Most of all, as we have chatted about different things, we give each other a touchpoint on seeing our writing grow. He is someone who is probably five steps ahead of me on the writing journey and I greatly appreciate him.

And I think I at minimum give him a good laugh about the silly ideas I have. Yet, his encouragement, feedback, and chats with me have really changed how I see what I write on a regular basis.

We Write Together

Over the course of two and a half years, I have chatted with some amazing people about writing, books, and life. The connection I have made with people from Facebook writing groups has encouraged me and helped me grow.

I still credit Frank McKinley and Janis Cox with giving me the idea to write my book on productivity. And Nicole Akers and Publishous gave me the space to start that journey. We also have had the chance to share the pains of self-publishing too.

And of course, there are the touchpoints with so many others where we share each other's writings, give each other encouragement, and build each other's audiences. No matter if you write about the same topics or not, we are all in this together.

And that is how we will grow.

Who Will You Reach Out To Today?

If you haven’t reached out to another writer before, you should. Not everyone will be available, but some will. And those connections will be important for you and for them.

Don’t forget, reach out to others and you will get great feedback, find new ideas for your creative journey, and grow a community or writers around you.

So, go find someone to connect with!

How have you seen connecting with other writers to help your writing? Share in the response below.