The Writer's Comfort Zone

Forming a new community takes some creative bootstrapping. You start with a grand vision but then have to decide if that vision is grand enough to invite people to participate in and flexible enough to perhaps not be as grand as all that to start.

What this looks like for The Writer’s Comfort Zone is a lot of questions and mapping what I want to do with what resources I have to do it. Questions like:

• Where do I find the people I think will want to be a part of this community?
•  What makes this effort different from writer’s communities out there?
•  What information would serve this community best?

Great questions, to be sure, but perhaps the biggest question is, what problem am I trying to solve?

What’s the Problem?

The problem is twofold: writers need feedback, and people are social creatures. Even writers who find people exhausting still generally require some form of interaction. For people in traditional office-bound day jobs, that interaction can be found with coworkers; it’s relatively easy to look around the corner and ask for feedback. For freelancers and other work-from-home types, however, we must get creative. 

What are the Parameters?

If that problem was the whole story, it would be easy to solve. Have everyone join a Facebook or LinkedIn group and be done with it! (I cringe even writing that.) Here are the parameters I set when thinking about how to solve the problem:

• Big-tech social media cannot be the solution; not everyone loves Facebook, Instagram, etc.
• Even people on those large platforms find the signal-to-noise ratio makes it hard to connect.
• While many blogs are being published with tips on writing and publishing, fewer sites online focus on connecting writers to each other to form a supportive environment.

So What’s Next?

All this leads me to the goal of building a service outside big-tech social media that serves the needs of writers looking for support to get their writing projects done. I want to facilitate connections and build an intentional community for people who want a quieter space than Facebook but one not as quiet as being alone in their homes. 

When Does The Community Happen?

The goal is to go live at the end of January 2023. You can see the layout here if you’d like a sneak preview of what I’m building. Several sections are blocked off; they will open up as part of a subscription model to help me keep the lights on for the service. 

And Now About You

One thing that would help me right now is feedback from you; I know what my vision is, but I don’t actually know what you want. If you have a moment, drop me a note. I’d love your feedback on the following:

• Do you like having a newsletter, or do you only want to know when things are going live?
• What do you think of the layout of the Circle community?
• What type of writing do you do, and do you think finding an accountability buddy will be useful to you?
• Is there anything else I should know?

Thank you for taking a chance and subscribing to hear more about The Writer’s Comfort Zone! You are why I’m building this. Thank you for the inspiration!

If you know of others that might enjoy being part of a community designed to support writers, please send them to The Writer’s Comfort Zone and encourage them to sign up to the newsletter!