How One Tweet Led Me to My Writing Community

A version of this article first appeared in Romance Daily News on December 11, 2022.

The blinking cursor on the screen mocked me as I struggled to put words on the page. Life had been busy, sickness was going around, and time to write had been slim. Now, I finally had the time, but no words came to mind.

I did what all writers did when procrastinating: opened Twitter and started to scroll. I came across a few book announcements and read the acknowledgments to their editors, agents, beta readers, and support groups. I couldn’t help but think that writing would be so much easier if I was surrounded by other writers, people to celebrate publications with and to lament with about the writing process. Writing a novel, while wonderful and rewarding, came with its own peculiar set of challenges understood only by those who had struggled to translate the world in their head into words on the page. 

With the new year coming and new writing goals to make, I decided this would be the year that I focused less on word counts and more on genuine connection. I sent out a tweet in search of like-minded writer friends, hoping maybe to grab the attention of a dozen writers in the same predicament as I was, and called it a night.

The response I woke up to was tremendous.

My tweet was viewed by hundreds of thousands of writers. Overnight, I had gained a thousand new followers and garnered hundreds of comments on my tweet. It seemed I was not alone in my search for other writers who wanted to motivate and support each other. 

Writing is often an isolating process. We draft alone. We edit alone. We query alone. Occasionally, we will get feedback from readers or an encouraging email from an agent. But the process of imagining a plot, crafting the story, and finding the right words to make it come alive on the page is accomplished all on our own. 

Yet the end goal always remains the same: connection. We want our story to connect to readers. We want someone to pick our book off the shelf, immerse themselves in our world, and come away understanding life a little more like us. It’s an exchange—we give readers our stories, and they give us their time.

In order to achieve this, we first have to share our work with others. It is for this reason that connection during the writing process is so vital. Allowing other writers who share that similar goal to read our work offers insight into how we can better our novels. It is not enough to simply write; to write well requires feedback.

This can be especially crucial for writers pursuing traditional publishing. Having friends who understand the process of querying and submission to agents and publishers can help motivate writers through even the most disheartening rejections. Knowing that you have people rooting for you makes all the difference when you are told “no” time and time again. After all, publishing is a numbers game. So much of it relies on timing, chance, and subjectivity. We need motivation to keep going, and, sometimes, having that group of friends rallying behind us is all we need to achieve our goals.

This tweet led to an unexpected whirlwind of a week. It was thrilling to connect with so many authors at all stages of the writing process. The writing community on Twitter is one of the most supportive and friendly groups I’ve ever had the privilege of meeting. I was able to join forums and pages for likeminded writers and set specific goals with friends to keep me on track for the new year.

I’m grateful to have found a writing community that I can share the book of my heart with. Together we can cheer each other on until we reach the finish line. Together we can help get each of our stories into the hands of readers where they truly belong.