After our writers’ group workshop last week, a few of us stopped off at a local Irish pub. Despite one of our members wanting to punch the bartender for his poor stout-pouring skills (did I mention he’s from Ireland?), we had a great time. Six of us crammed into a booth and chatted about everything from our home towns, to lighthouse retreats, to grand juries while the same five Irish songs played in the background.
At some point during the evening, I’m not sure if it was before we tried to convince Paddy to dance for us, or after, one of our members talked about reaching out to the other writers in the city. As it stands now, there are two main writing groups in Stockholm, both of which happen to be called Stockholm Writers’ Group. The group I’m in, Stockholm Writers Group, holds critique workshops every two weeks (don’t you love the website? My photo isn’t there yet, but once we get the pictures done, it’ll be added). The other group runs mostly through meetup. They meet weekly, but don’t have any specific instructions. The idea is show up and work on whatever you want to work on.
We have a sneaky suspicion there are more writers out there than those who show up to these two groups. We want to connect with them. We have this vision where the literary community bands together, despite belonging to different writing groups. We can share information, resources, support and events. We can encourage one another. Spontaneous writing sessions will pop up. We’ll share tips and advice.
With this in mind, today I created a Facebook group for writers in Stockholm to network. As I write this, seven folks have joined. Yay! Baby steps. I need to create a calendar of events and upload it, and perhaps create a forum for everyone to post static information. Perhaps not. Who knows where this will lead? All I know is reaching out to others is never a bad thing. To paraphrase Cassie, the one who originally suggested the idea, the more we connect, the better it is for us as a community and individually.
If you’re in the Stockholm area and want to connect with other writers, join us!
If you’re not in Stockholm, I have a feeling it’s our loss =). Seriously, if you’re a writer, I encourage you no matter where you live, to reach out to other writers. Network. Join a writers group. If you can’t find one, maybe you can start one. It’s a lonely profession, let’s reach out to others who share our passion.
Cas Blomberg Communications 