Hit Submit 2019

Yes, hi, hello, I run a writing critique group called Columbia Writers, which meets in Howard County, Maryland. If you don’t know this already, where on earth have you been? I talk about it often and at great length. (Sorry not sorry)

Our steadiest program has been the bi-weekly 20/20 meetings, where eight to ten writers meet up and critique two writers’ submissions of up to 20 pages. Everyone reads the work in advance and comes with notes to share in a round robin discussion with the group. This has been going steady for many years and is a holdover from before myself and my two friends officially took over running the group in 2017.

We’ve also recently completed a Novel in Six (months) challenge, which put writers in small accountability groups with the goal of writing or re-writing a draft in six months’ time. We’ve offered the chance for writers to read one another’s completed manuscripts in a book-club-like fashion. In addition, there have been interactive workshops on outlining, micro fiction, query letters, self-publishing, and more. There’s even been a demonstration of martial arts and swordplay.

All of this to say, we like offering interesting programming. The three of us are insanely busy, though, so it can be tough to find time to organize special functions and offer ongoing events. One member, Leigh (who was in my Novel in Six group), inspired me to pitch a program that we’re calling Hit Submit – and she’ll be co-running it with me.

The Hit Submit group with be no more than six people all writing for the same prompt/literary magazine, with the same submission date. We’ll go through a few drafts each and critique one another’s stories to get them ready to, well, hit submit this May 1st.

As someone who has roughly forty rejection letters under her belt, I understand the importance of putting yourself out there and submitting work to magazines, knowing very well that you probably won’t be accepted. But it’s a key step toward success as a writer: be brave enough to take the chance that you’ll fail. You can’t succeed without taking that risk in the first place.

Life’s Better With a Community

Communities in our lives can take many forms: family, friends, co-workers, sports teams, clubs. These can be a little bit harder to find as adults, which is something that any divorcée or person who just moved to a new city can tell you. Often, we’re put in the position of needing to create and nurture our own communities rather than just finding one and coasting along with it. This has been my experience with Columbia Writers.

In 2014, I put my nervousness aside and joined CW, not having done much critique myself nor having shared my writing before (with perhaps two exceptions). And what I found was a community of writers who wanted to grow and improve together. Four years later, I co-run the group and most of the members that were there in 2014 have moved on. What myself and my two co-organizers have done, though – and which I am very proud of – is rebuild a new community of writers. We’re a solid group of about thirty active members who are working to improve our craft and help the other group members as well.

Now, I’m a bit of an introvert and I need a good bit of alone time every week to feel recharged, but I am also human and I need social interaction and support to stay healthy. I find the meetings for Columbia Writers – as well as the sub group I run for the Novel in Six Months project – to be energizing. I’m proud of the group of people that we’ve created and shaped and nurtured. And I’m proud of each of the individuals who choose to be a part of this with me.

A community is like a garden. You can’t just leave it alone and hope for the best outcome; you have to give it time and effort and a little bit of love. This work that comes from the heart is bound to pay off. It’s worth it. Trust me.

Novel in Six

Columbia Writers, back at it again. We’re bringing back a really popular program from years past: Novel in Six Months. It’s a slightly less murderous sort of NaNoWriMo, giving participants six months to write a first draft instead of just the one. Myself and my two co-organizers are going to create a series of small (4-5 person) groups, matched up to align their needs, and set them loose to write together, brainstorm, do exercises, meet, outline, talk, and support one another using a wide range of tools that we provide.

These are support groups, accountability groups, and also just a great group of people to experience something stressful yet amazing with. We encourage write-ins, monthly check-in meetings, and using shared spreadsheets and documents to brainstorm and keep track of word count. In past years, for meeting our word count goals, we made mix tapes for one another and all went out to a celebratory dinner at the end of the experience. I’m still great friends with most of my fellow Ni6 survivors from when I last participated.

What tools do you find work best to keep you on track? What does your ideal accountability/support system look like?