Dear writer,

I wrote my first book totally alone.

Before that, I also wrote three half-finished books alone. Just me, my danger-cat Digit, and my abyss full of yearning to write.

I thought that was the way writers worked. It’s romantic, right? The idea of the artist in her garret, pacing at the windows, murmuring under her breath, and then going back to the typewriter (because of course she’s using a typewriter).

Even when I was getting my master’s in creative writing, the concept of writing together simply wasn’t a thing. We attended classes, we left campus, and we quietly hyperventilated by ourselves while reading prose we could never emulate.

Then, in 2006 (JAYSUS THAT WAS TWENTY YEARS AGO - AUGGGH), I attended my first in-person write-in. Honestly, I thought writing in a room with other people was kind of a dumb idea. (This is a throughline in my life — I always think great ideas are dumb until I try them, at which point I become a total and zealous convert.)

This write-in met at a Mexican restaurant in Berkeley. There were about twenty of us crammed in a side room, margaritas wrestling with laptops for space.

I felt incredibly shy and swallowed my queasiness. Everyone seemed to know each other, so I brightly faked some agonizing small talk until the host unceremoniously kicked it off.

She stood and raised her arms. “Everyone ready to write? GO!”

Hang on. She was allowed to just do that? She could yell Go and writers would be able to write? In public?

I looked at my open document. I pecked out a few words, sure I would have to slam my computer closed and run away soon, avoiding pitying glances.

All around me, keyboards clicked and clacked confidently. Nachos went cold, ice melted in glasses.

I wrote a full sentence.

Then somehow, I was in it. Just writing next to everyone else. I wrote more in those two hours that night than I had in the previous three months combined.

I had the key I needed to unlock my books. I needed a community. All writing, of course, is technically solitary. No one actually helps us press the keys.

But having support while we’re doing the work?

Essential.

Why Writing Together Works:

Writing is hard, period. And most writers have let themselves down in the past.

These two things combined trigger task avoidance.

The brain sees writing as dangerous.

But when you see other people calmly doing the same hard thing — on Zoom or in person — your brain relaxes.
“Oh. We’re safe. This is allowed.”

And then … you write.

It’s even stronger when the people around you are aiming at the same goal.

You don’t have to be watching them every minute. You just know that:

• Someone else in your group is trying to get 7,000 craptastic words this week too, even though the news is dire and the flu is going around.

• Someone else in your group is also revising a flaming hot mess of a chapter today, even though she’d rather be catching up on the new season of The Diplomat.

You know, no matter where you are, you’re not alone.

Why My Masterclasses Work:

90 Days to Done is for drafting (or finishing) a full memoir or novel.
90 Day Revision is for uncovering the real book hiding inside that first draft.

What you get:
– a container (90 days)
– a goal (a finished draft)
– people beside you (amazing people)
– and a little guidance from someone who knows the road (that’s me)

We start February 1st, and doors are about to close.

If you want to:
finish your draft:
👉 90 Days to Done — From stuck to done.

If you want to:
make your book better:
👉 90 Day Revision — Real revision from the ground up.

I’d love to write with you.

Onward!

Rachael

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PS - These classes work. I’ve now lost count (literally) of how many of my students have gone on to get agents, to get trad book deals (some at auction and pre-empt!), to publish their own glorious books, to sign audio and foreign rights deals, all of them getting their books into readers’ hands. (You may have heard some of them talking to me on Ink In Your Veins!) You can do it, too. Trust me about this if you can’t (yet) trust yourself.

PPS - Here are two recent books from my previous students that I’m so excited to read in final form: Homebound, by Portia Elan, profiled here in People Magazine, and VF Mejia’s exciting Kickstarter of The Glory of Gold!