A writing club online?
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Hello, my friend
I have a confession to make: since starting this newsletter I’ve been getting some help with my writing,
I have had different ways to check if the words I’ve written are good or if I need to make a change.
Today, I will show you how. I will give you access to my very own writing club online.
Apps, people, groups, and courses are changing the way people like me do their job over the internet and how they can help you become a better writer.
I’ve been writing for years but for this newsletter, The New Gazette, I’ve been doing it since June 2020. During that time, I’ve published more than 2,000 words a week, +25 articles, and hundreds of people visited my website. And yet, I still get nervous every time I hit publish. Clicking the send button makes my heart race and my hands sweat.
Not gonna lie, the butterflies always came minutes before I sent my article every Friday.
I have always been like that but while doing the job of “becoming” a writer, I realized something, the writers I admire the most have had the same issues I’m experiencing.
Every time they send a tweet, publish a newsletter, promote an essay, or launch a book. They know that are being exposed to criticism but they keep doing it no matter what.
I wanted to know how they do it as some of them, captivate an audience in so many ways, and their work is always incredibly well done.
While doing the research on this topic, I found out none of them do it alone, in fact, all of them have a stack of apps, people, support, and places where they go when they need some help.
In the past this was pretty normal, think, Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Thomas Wolfe. Three of the most important writers in the last century in America, when they needed help they went to visit Gertrude Stein or Maxwell Perkins, as these were really good editors.
They gathered to talk about their job, what should they say, what they should delete, in what order should they do it. All their questions were answered and their work was polished to make it perfect.
I read about it and wonder, now as the internet has opened up the door to some people like me to try to become a writer, how you can be part of a group like this where you could gather with others to talk about your work and refine every single word you write.
Is there such a thing as a writing club on the internet?
how could I get someone or something checking my orthography all the time?
I needed an answer and got it, over the last few months, I have found my very own writing club online,
Places where I could get help to make my writing a little bit better every week,
and here they are :
Apps?
Before I started writing seriously, the only place I checked if my spelling was wrong was with the corrector inside Word, I know, so lame but it was the only thing I knew at the moment.
Now there are a plethora of apps that can help you with that, in a better way,
I currently use four of them
Grammarly, this one helped me to check any misspelling of a word instantly, just type what you want and it will be watching you and giving suggestions (you probably have seen the ads somewhere, but this app is really helpful)
ilys, this app helps you get out of your mind every raw idea you have, the service it provides is this one, you open the website and start writing, the app will save the words you put in but you’re unable to see it until the end. Maybe you will get many errors but the main idea is there.
Hemingway, The app’s goal is to make your writing simpler, it highlights lengthy, complex sentences and shows you to what level your writing aim. Is it for a more professional audience on a niche or the general public, you will know with the app
Up-Goer, here it’s a text box where you write using just the most common words in the English dictionary. If you don’t do it, it will tell you. That way your writing is the most effective in sharing an idea. It’s much harder than I thought but helpful.
People?
Over the last few months, I have found a group of writers who do similar work to mine. I probably have shared them before but took them as an inspiration with my storytelling.
David Perell, the founder of the Write of Passage course, loves writing and it’s always sharing their ideas online
Kaleigh Moore is a freelance writer who works for different brands and shares a lot of tips all the time to improve your storytelling and the words you use.
James Clear, the writer of Atomic Habits is an incredible writer which you can learn from
Anne-Laure Le Cunff, the founder of Ness Labs, a place that has a really good newsletter about mindful productivity and many more communities to improve your writing and life.
Packy McCormick, who is an incredible writer, created as people call it, the best alternative to Business School, as he shares what’s going on in business and technology via pop culture. it’s called No Boring go check it out here
Groups?
I have found some groups that always inspire me to do a better job.
On Facebook, these are some:
Aspiring authors United, A community based around the love for reading, writing, and helping promote aspiring writers
Substack Writers, which is a group of writers who publish newsletters on this platform
Café Writer, a place where creative professionals gather creating a business-building community focused on writers
Plus other ones on the internet
Newsletter Geeks, which is a group on Telegram created by Ness Labs to share their work
Writers Café, an online community where you could get feedback from your peers on your work. This one can help if you do not want to share with your network what you’re doing.
Courses?
Write of Passage, this one is a step-by-step guide for how you can publish quality content and distributing your ideas to your network. I have found that the people who are in there get a lot of benefits
On-Deck Writer Fellowship, this one is an eight-week remote program for internet writers who want to improve their writing and grow an audience
Disclaimer: I haven’t been on any of these courses but I received a lot of tips from former Alumni and some from the courses’ administrators which they share over email.
Having these places where I could go to improve my writing is fascinating.
Even the thought of me sharing ideas in English is crazy, as it’s my second language but, thankfully. I’m not completely alone and everywhere I look there’s an inspiration to try to give my best on each story.
Writing for me is something I like as I can connect with others, and I encourage you to do it whether is for a hobby, work, or a personal project. It could help you let know what you’re doing to others.
I have shared many links of all the things I use to be a better writer, hope you find one that can be helpful as it is for me.
It’s scary to share your own work but as I told you today, there are different ways to connect with other writers online. You just need to find where they are
This is my very own writing club online, I’m glad that the internet has created different places to improve this skill and share it with others with the same passions.
if you have another app, person, or course that aims to improve writing, let me know
see you here next week,
Jose
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