Writing Dates

Since Nanowrimo in November, my friend Kammi and I have tried to make a it a habit to meet for regular writing dates. We go to a coffee shop, set up in a table somewhere in a corner, and pull out our notebooks, laptops, and a plethora of pens (to be fair,  usually I forget a pen, and Kammi has the plethora).

Sometimes we spend hours writing and barely talking to each other. Other times (most of the time), we spend hours talking about our books, our other projects, our friends’ projects, and what our game plan is for next steps in our career. No matter what, it always feels productive. Even if I don’t write a single word, even if all I do is talk about the creative process, I always leave feeling inspired to keep on working. To push beyond the exhaustion. These writing dates always help me find my drive again.

I think that it’s important to spend time with people who want to listen to you talk about your dreams. Who support your goals and maybe even have a similar trajectory in life. Without times like this, sitting around and talking with Kammi about my ridiculous amount of creative pursuits and how busy and overwhelmed yet excited I feel all the time, I don’t know how I’d keep going.

Being a writer/creative can be a hard profession. You work your ass off, usually in the hours before or after you’ve already worked your ass off at a different job that pays the bills. So much of your work is solitary. I often sit by myself in my bedroom at my desk or in coffee shops and libraries writing my book and working on this blog. If it weren’t for the community of writers that I have, if it weren’t for reading their work and for them reading mine, if it weren’t for sitting around for hours on end and talking about all of these things, I would’ve stopped doing them a long time ago.

Find your tribe. Find your person. Find your “Wednesday afternoon” date, and meet as often as you can to hash out your dreams. Plan it all out in the corner of the library or a coffee shop.

It is my hope that this blog is a virtual writing/creative date for you every week. That’s what it is for me. And I am endlessly thankful that I started it.

Also, you should give my friend Kammi some love. If you’re interested in all things writing/discovering the next brilliant YA author before everyone else, follow her on Instagram @kammi.trout. This past year of my life has been weird and strange and confusing, and I don’t know what I would’ve done without her.