My write-or-dies

Last October I took a writing class that promised I would publish 5 articles in 5 weeks and make a lifelong friend. 

Write and publish 5 articles in 5 weeks? Could I really do that? 

It was intimidating but enticing. 

Make a lifelong friend in an online class? Insert eye roll here. 

I started the class and focused on writing. The course emphasized a “social” writing process of sharing early drafts with others to get feedback before publishing. I was put in a small group that met weekly to share our progress and struggles. We encouraged each other as we worked our way through what to write week after week. And we exchanged feedback to get different perspectives and gain more confidence before hitting “publish.”

AI image generated by Adobe Firefly

At the end of the course, I wanted to keep writing. I fell in love with putting my thoughts into the world, even if no one read them. I focused on writing for myself and loved the freedom that came with it. 

I didn’t want to lose that. But who would give me feedback once the course was over? 

In the last class session, a handful of people shared similar worries so we formed a group to continue giving feedback. But 3 weeks after the course ended, so did the group. The steady stream of feedback dried up as everyone moved on to other things. 

But I still wanted to write. I still wanted feedback. 

Thankfully I stayed in touch with two people from the weekly writing group:

Emma Dorge

and

Karena

. Karena, a veteran writer, continued to offer her wisdom and words of encouragement between her globe-trotting travels as Emma and I traversed this new world of weekly writing together. 

Me: Post writing class, I’m feeling the momentum fading a bit and some insecurities are starting to show up: Why am I writing? Who am I to think people want to read what I write?

Emma: I feel the same way about the insecurities creeping in-- woof. But I mean think about it. We're FIVE ESSAYS IN. FIVE! To hopefully a long road. 

I emailed Emma and Karena each week asking for feedback on my articles but “only if you have time,” ending each email with “send anything you have my way so I can give feedback too!“

We settled into a rhythm of free flowing feedback and… dare I say… friendship? Can you call someone you’ve only met on Zoom a friend?

But that kind of “Zoom friendship” is precisely what led me to discover the writing class in the first place. 

I connected with an acquaintance on Zoom,

Hesam Panahi

, over our love for asynchronous learning and somewhere along the way, I mentioned wanting to be a writer. He told me he had just the thing: an online writing class and encouraged me to apply. 

Now 49 weeks in, I continue to regularly write my early drafts and hit “send” to request feedback from my writing friends. And, like magic, comments appear in my Google Doc. Emma, the cutting queen, makes suggestions to tighten things up. Karena, with her keen eye, pulls out and polishes the main point of my articles. And the ever insightful Hesam brings up interesting connections and prompts me to dig just a little deeper. 

It’s almost a year after the writing class and I have not one but three write-or-dies, the ones who show up every week, the ones who give the best constructive feedback, the ones who taught me to keep my eye rolls to myself. 

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Thank you to my write-or-dies for continuing to give feedback and encouragement:

Emma Dorge

,

Karena

, and

Hesam Panahi

.