Online writing groups can be a great way to connect with others and help push your writing forward. What are the benefits of joining online writing groups? How do you go about finding the right online writing group? How do we make the most of our online writing group experience?
These are some of the questions we’ll help answer in this post.
Online Writing Groups
The Benefits of Joining an Online Writing Group
There are many advantages and value of participating in online writing groups. A few of these include…
- Community and Support – Online writing groups help provide a sense of belonging and encouragement. When asked why they chose to join our Christian Book Academy family, the most frequent answer we hear from members is their need to find a community of like minded Christian writers. Let’s face it, if we’re not intentional about joining a community, we writers can be a solitary bunch. And from a practical standpoint, there are many writers who live in more isolated locations geographically. Online writing groups are a great way for these people to connect with other Kingdom writers around the world.
- Feedback and Improvement – The role of peer feedback cannot be underestimated as a means to help us hone our writing skills. Within Christian Book Academy, we have various forums where writers can post questions, ask for help in finding a title, and share samples of their writing in order to receive constructive feedback. These are safe places where the goal is to encourage and edify one another. It reminds me of Proverbs 27:17 (NLT) which says, “As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend.” In a similar way, runners will join running groups in order to be part of a community that offers feedback and ways to improve.
- Accountability and Motivation – Online writing groups can help writers stay on track with their goals. One of the most effective tools we have implemented within our Christian Book Academy is something called Progress Pods. These are peer-led groups of 5-8 members who meet weekly or bi-weekly on Zoom in order to share the progress they’ve made in their writing goals. The emphasis is making progress on the next little step each person can take in order to move forward. There’s something so motivating when we hear about the victories (no matter how big or small) happening in the writing of others. This is yet another way we “sharpen” one another as writers.
How to Find the Right Online Writing Group
When thinking about how to find a writing group, it’s a good idea to do some research on whether any in-person writing groups exist in your neck of the woods. Meeting others face to face is something that can’t truly be replicated online.
In your research, you may find several writing groups within your area that aren’t specifically Christian in nature. That’s not to say they won’t be helpful but this is something each person has to weigh in their search for a like minded community of writers.
There may come a point when you sense God calling you to start a Christian writing group in your area. This could be something as simple as meeting in a home or local coffee shop and sharing samples of each writer’s latest work. After some constructive feedback for each person, there could be time for prayer and asking the Lord for guidance for any writing ahead.
The legendary writers C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien were part of a writing group known as the Inklings who met weekly in a local tavern near Oxford University. The only requirement, according to Lewis, to be part of the group was, “A tendency to write, and Christianity.”
If an in-person writing group isn’t a realistic option in your area, this is where online writing groups can serve their purpose of offering community among Christian writers. There’s a reason our online academy starts with the word “Christian.” We aren’t ashamed to let writers know up front that we seek to honor Jesus in our writing goals.
Simply doing an online search by typing in “online writing groups” will certainly yield a plethora of results. From there, it’s important to slowly wade through the options and determine which groups align with your goals and beliefs. Some online writing groups will be mostly fiction writers while others will be dominated by nonfiction writers. Each group will have its own unique flavor which is why it’s not a bad idea to do a little “taste-testing” of groups before making a full commitment.
In Christian Book Academy, we give writers a chance to sample the things we offer and cancel at any time. We treat you like family and there are no hard feelings if you decide to move on from CBA. Our primary goal is to help each Kingdom writer move forward in their call to write, publish, and market their books. We believe this happens most effectively within a context of community, support, and prayer for one another.
Making the Most of Your Online Writing Group Experience
In order to maximize the benefits from online writing groups, we would like to suggest a few tips to help you on your journey.
- Regular Attendance – Every online writing group is going to have various group meetings and discussions. By prioritizing these meetings, you are also prioritizing your writing. If we see our writing as nothing more than a side hobby that we give our leftovers to, our writing probably won’t make much of an impact. If we choose to invest significant energy by regularly attending the meeting opportunities within an online group, we set ourselves up for more fruitfulness. When we miss these gatherings, we are also depriving others in the group of our presence and influence on their lives.
- Constructive Feedback – Being a part of online writing groups also gives us the opportunity to give and receive feedback. When giving constructive feedback to others, it’s important to be respectful and encouraging with any suggestions we might share. Begin by sharing some things you loved in the other person’s writing before moving to things that have need for improvement. We writers can be sensitive, especially when we’ve labored for the writing that’s been achieved. We might adapt the Golden Rule by saying, “Share feedback with others as you would want them to share feedback with you.” At the end of the day, we all want to share high quality writing with our readers. Giving and receiving feedback along the way will help ensure we have a more refined product to offer.”
- Setting Goals – Online writing groups are great opportunities to set writing goals and then share those goals within the group for an added layer of accountability. There’s something powerful that happens when our goals go from personal to public. As a runner, when I (CJ) share my running goals with others, it helps me stay more dedicated to the training required. And when I register for a race, there’s another added layer of commitment. Laying down our hard-earned cash for something means we are serious about moving forward to achieve the goals we’ve set.
I mentioned the Progress Pods we have within our academy a little earlier. We also have monthly virtual writing retreats where our members gather together on a Friday and Saturday for the purpose of getting some writing done. These retreats have built in breaks along with set periods of writing. Each VWR is kicked off with an encouraging word from CJ & Shelley along with prayer and seeking clarity and guidance from the Lord. So many of our members have raved about these gatherings and how the Lord helped them make wonderful progress in their writing, marketing, or planning.
Are online writing groups a good fit for you and the call God has on your life? We encourage you to pray about being part of an online community that God uses to help sharpen and refine you as a Kingdom writer. As mentioned earlier, feel free to sample multiple groups to see which one might be most helpful at this stage in your writing journey.
We’ll close this post with a relevant quote by well known writer Flannery O’connor…
“The isolated imagination is easily corrupted by theory, but the writer inside his/her community seldom has such a problem.”
Resources for Online Writing Groups
- Join our online membership, Christian Book Academy, and get access to our monthly Virtual Writing Retreats here.
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