When the Solitude of Long Writing Sessions Feels Lonely, Join A Party On Social Media.
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Once upon a time, writing in solitude for long periods was a lonely experience, but we can slay that dragon with social media.
I don’t know about you, but knowing another writer is alongside me writing and completing a project or story is comforting for me. It feels like camaraderie and teamwork.
Again, for me, that’s nice. It’s a party.
I had a writing session on October 1 and enjoyed writing with a live YouTube broadcast. Here’s what I wrote in my journal:
While writing this at my desk, I am listening to live LoFi music and writing with an AuthorTuber named Michael La Ronn and nearly 100 other writers at this time. We are all using the Pomodoro method as we write. I’m also interstitial journaling between my breaks. I’m not writing in the chat, but in the future, I think I will participate in the conversations after each session.
Every 20 minutes, we stop for 5 minutes to chat about where they are in their project. Like a smooth jazz DJ, Michael reads comments, and once more, the clock starts silently ticking again as lo-fi music resumes.
No More Writing Alone, Well, Sort of.
That experience was fun for me. Ambivert personality types like myself vacillate between needing alone time to charge up and longing for a group of people to feel alive. And when you write, you write alone.
But isolation is good for concentration.
Yes, isolation is good for concentration. Yet, if you are a writer who writes daily for more than three hours a day, you may enjoy the presence of other writers immersed in their work and ready to talk and share every 20 minutes between writing sprints.
Accordingly, writing groups can benefit those who write in long sessions. A study on writing groups for academics determined that students writing their dissertations with a writing group had a far more rewarding experience.
Students found the writing group:
- Helped them share ideas and talk through problems.
- Motivated them by interactions with others.
