An update for August, from the PRESS writers group
A glimpse of a different monthly update
I want to post at least weekly here, but life has been such chaos as we prepare for our move from Los Angeles to Tacoma—and help our son move to Palms, and help our daughter move to Long Beach, and help various tenants and friends move in and out and all about— this summer may be remembered as the Great Empty-Box Swap of 2024! But certain other things are higher priorities for me. Like, to be honest, my writers group.
It’s called PRESS. Not because it has anything to do with the noble art, science, and craft of journalism, but because it is hard to write, and hard to make progress toward one’s goals. We must fight Resistance (a topic for a series of future posts). We must “press on toward our goal”, hence our group name, PRESS. We even have cool stickers that I’m happy to send you for free if you send me a couple of dollars to cover postage and handling. One of them looks like this:
PRESS meets a couple of evenings per week for writing sprints, and once a month as a critique group. Membership gives you various other benefits too. One of them is a brief members-only email that always includes a quote and some helpful tidbit to improve your writing life.
This month, instead of writing a separate monthly update for Substack, I thought I’d just share with you the PRESS update for this month.
Enjoy!
Hey fellow wordsmiths,
Welcome to August! We had our first evening of writing sprints yesterday, on the first of the month. As promised, here is the new link for the weekly PRESS meetings in the future. This will work for both Monday and Thursday evenings. [sorry, you need to join PRESS to get this link!]
Kathryn and I will be traveling most of this month, first up to the Pacific Northwest. First we'll stop in Chehalis to check on her mom and stepdad, then we'll go a little further to Tacoma to begin moving some of our things into our new home there. While Kathryn continues to sort that stuff out, I will head up to Seattle to speak at the International Mars Society Convention (August 8-11) about the key role of SF authors in reaching the Mars Society's goals... and to reconnect with many of my space-development friends and insider info sources!
We'll be back in Los Angeles for a few days mid-month but then we will spend a week in Pakistan to attend the wedding of a close friend there. By the time we return, September will be knocking at the door...
So I hope to see you in as many writing sprints as I can, but I have no idea how many that will be! Alycia Crane will lead as many of them as she can; the rest of them, you guys know the drill!
Share your writing goal, set a timer, and get to work!
Then share how it went, being brutally or delightfully honest.
Encourage one another.
Then do it again!
Begin as early as you want, go as late as you want, I probably won't be there to stop you. (Or maybe I'll join you in your temporal trespassing!)
Anyone should be able to begin a PRESS meeting as early as fifteen minutes before 7pm (Pacific), and you can keep the meeting open as long as you want; the room will close when the last participant leaves for the evening. Just in case, I'll do my best to make sure the meeting is open for you before 7pm on Mondays and Thursdays. If it isn't, or if you can't get in, text me and Alycia Crane (only members get her phone number, sorry) and we will help you. Group texts ftw!
The important part is to show up and do the work. In the words of a Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist, essayist, and poet:
I learned to produce whether I wanted to or not.
It would be easy to say "oh, I have writer’s block, oh, I have to wait for my muse."
I don’t wait for it. Chain that muse to your desk and get the job done.— Barbara Kingsolver
Feel free to send me a quick email after each PRESS meeting that I miss—let me know how it went and how your writing project is coming along! I hate missing opportunities to make progress on my writing and editing, but I also hate missing opportunities to work side-by-side with you. Sending me an update makes me happy. It might help you identify some of the strengths and weaknesses of your own writing workflow too.
In the New Author Plunge (and in private coaching), we ask these "writing process" questions, and revisit them from time to time as needed:
Where do you do most of your writing? (Your actual physical writer's lair or perch) What might you change to make it more conducive to focused work?
When do you do most of your writing? (Set days and times? At kairos* moments that trigger a writing spree? Something else?) Is this working for you, or is there something you might change to make you more productive?
How do you do most of your writing? (Your actual writing tools) Is this working for you, or is there something you could change to make you more productive? Do you want to acquire or learn any new tools?
Ask yourself these questions now, and email me your answers and thoughts. I look forward to hearing from you soon!
Grace and productive eloquence to you,
—Nic
Catalyst & Head Coach, Wordsmith Writing Coaches
Co-founder, PRESS writers group
Friend to the struggling writer, wherever you are!
*…if you haven't taken our seminar Ethos, Oikos, Kairos and you want to know what the ancient Greeks had to say about acquiring readers and building a fanbase, let me know. We need a minimum of three committed participants to schedule a private webinar, and if there's enough interest, we might make it something bigger. Unless you want us all to yourself; we can certainly do that!)