I’m shy.

I don’t act like I am, but I’m both introverted and shy (which are, of course, different complicated things). Bonus: I also hate being seen/perceived.

So my idea of hell is giving my introduction in a meeting.

Those “getting to know you” questions? They give me hives of the soul. (In my classes, I keep these questions as short as possible, and I let people volunteer to go first if they need to, to get it over with. I know it’s still painful for many.)

Therefore, when I heard that some people wrote together on Zoom, I thought it sounded like a very bad idea. I would be perceived! I might have to talk! Then I would explode into a cloud of spores like a poked mushroom and disappear.

And then, after all that panic and spore-drifting, I was supposed to stay on camera while focusing on my writing?

What if I forgot I was on camera?

What if I blew my nose and then picked it with the tissue? 🤧 What if I left my mouth hanging open to catch flies? What if I laughed? Or worse, cried? 😭

Nope, that wasn’t for a person like me. I’m a solo operator, and hate group work with every fiber of my being. (Group work, for me, was 90% trying to act normal in front of the others so they’d let me use my leftover 10% to do all the work for them the way I wanted it to be done.)

Honestly, I’d love to tell you about the time I tried writing in someone’s Zoom room, but the truth is the first time I did it, I was hosting the Zoom.

I’d been having a hard time motivating myself to write, and while I still hated the idea of Zoom writing, I’m an Obliger to my very core. If someone expects me to do something or to show up somewhere, I will BE THERE. (I’m not an Upholder—I wish I were. If I simply expect it of myself, another part of myself will shrug and take a novel to bed, instead.)

So heck, I started Rachael Says Write (now called the Writing Guild Sessions). I invited people to write with me.

And OH MY GOD.

I loved it so much.

I have found, over and over, that the people who think it’s a really weird (or terrible) idea are the ones who end up loving it the most. Like me.

Because truly, it doesn’t make sense. Just sitting in front of your computer with others doing the same thing in those little Zoom boxes? Why does that help?

We could be doing anything! We could be scrolling Facebook marketplace (or checking our bank account after buying something on Facebook marketplace). We could be scrolling Reddit for Mormon housewife drama. But we don’t, not while we’re on camera. That’s the magical part.

We show up and we write.

I find it at least 20 times easier to write when I’m in a Zoom room with other writers, preferably ones I’m used to writing with in our community. I’m not exaggerating. It helps that much.

Yes, it feels magical, but when something is magic, I also like to look for the more pragmatic explanations (magic appreciates pragmatism).

Why it works (I think)

1. It works because you’re not alone. Others are with you, doing the same thing, feeling the same struggles and successes. Sure, your writing is private, no one gets a peek at it, but you’re all engaged in the same end goal: words on a page.

2. It works because you get to see other people’s Writer Faces.

If you peek at the screen (we all do it), you’ll see writers in various states of Writing Face. And far from that being weird, I honestly cherish the writing faces I see.

Here’s my normal face on Zoom - this is way I like to imagine my face always looks:

But I’ve been doing this long enough that I’m happy to show you my most frequent *actual* writing face.

And I’ve learned that when I’m thinking *very* hard, my lips tend to wander to the left side of my face, as if they’re trying to escape.

All I know is this - I’d rather let others see the funny faces than be totally alone. Funny faces get the writing done. 3. **It works because it’s an appointment.**

It feels official (because it is). The app I use is a calendar that populates to your own digital calendar, and it’s so much easier to show up (or get people to leave you alone) when your calendar is holding that time for you. “Sorry, can’t meet you for coffee, I have a meeting. After?”
4. It works because you see others doing it and not dying.

This may be a non-scientific and unofficial reason, but I’m convinced it’s true. My brain and body think that difficult things should be avoided because some difficult things can kill me. Better just do the same thing I did yesterday, and the day before - I didn’t die from that.

But if I see writers show up and I see them sit there and be okay, some part of my brain says, “Oh, this is safe. All right then.”

Try It!

Don’t be like me and toss out the idea just because you think it won’t work for you. You might be surprised.

And if you know it works, don’t forget that it does (like I do). I’m perennially thinking, Oh god, HOW will I get my writing done this week? Hey! I have a method. Writing on Zoom with friends. It works.

Where to Write with Others:

Meetup: Okay, this one is in person, so therefore it’s way scarier, but I can almost guarantee there are some writing meetups in your town. Ignore that one guy who wants to tell you the plot of the book that is totally going to get him a huge movie deal, sit next to the person who looks kind and interesting, and write a while. Then get that nice person’s number and schedule another writing date with them.

Shut Up and Write: There are a ton of writing sessions listed here, run by different groups. They’re also very specific! I see that one is starting in fifteen minutes just for writers in the south-west of Western Australia. (I haven’t tried these, so I can’t vouch for them.)

Writers Hour: This is a nice one — they run four one-hour writing sessions a day in four time zones and you can join as many as you like. You chat in the chatbox for five minutes, write for 50 minutes, and then chat again for the last five (guided by hosts).

Focusmate: Virtual one-on-one body doubling for any task, writers welcome!

And of course, my own Ink Village: Write with me! You’d be welcome to join up to 16 hours of hosted and unhosted writing time per week with us!

Speaking of Ink Village:

The next Writing in the Junkyard Online Retreat is coming up NEXT MONTH:

July 11 and 12!

You will get SO much done. We write on Zoom together for 6 hours each day. I guide you, we think about ourselves as writers, AND we do our own work. It’s an incredible space.

(You can join only the Junkyard, or it’s FREE with Ink Village membership!)

No matter where you’re writing, my friend, please DO write. Alone or together, morning or night, by hand or by typing. Just get some terrible words cobbled together so you can finish your project. Then you can fix it all!

Onward!

Rachael

❤️ Rachael

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PPS - As always, 100% human written, so please forgive the human typos! 🤦