How and why forming a group can change your world.
There are times in life’s dark hours when a person shows up to tell you you’re not alone.
Imagine then, what it felt like to have an entire group rally. This is a story of how and why groups matter.
How one group in particular showed up for me.
Who Do I Think I Am?
It’s 2020 and I am feeling a little gangly. Loose in my limbs. Like my pursuit to write historical fiction isn’t grounded in anything substantial, but is wispy, ethereal.
I simultaneously dread, and hope, that friends or family will ask how my book is going. I’d started writing in 2018, retiring with the gravel spraying behind my wheels as I sped out of my career. I’d told everyone I was starting down the brand-spanking new glittery, gold-paved path of being a novelist.
Two years later I’m smarter.
I’m also “finished.” The manuscript is done, but since it’s based on a true story, when a new biography comes out on my hero (Jo van Gogh, the famous artist’s sister-in-law), it fills in missing gaps in her life. Holes I’d plugged in my novel with my imagination.
In the light of facts, making up so much didn’t feel right.
I realize I am going to have to start over.
I long to talk about this — I need to talk about this — but I feel awkward.
I wonder whether my working on a book embarrasses my friends. Our common ground mostly comes from formerly working together. Like they don’t ask about it because they suspect that maybe I’ve thrown in the towel? So many people say they’ll write a book and then don’t do it, or follow through to publish, because — well, many of you know — after turning the corner of actually finishing the manuscript, publication is a whole new tough slog.
And my husband is retired too, so there is this unspoken horizonless terrain stretching before us. What life together should look like now hasn’t been mapped out yet.
Every morning, descending the stairs to my downstairs office feels a little like betrayal.
After all, who do I think I am?
How dare I put what I want first?
How dare I think I have something to say?
Posted a Message . . . The Rest Is History :)
One day the idea comes to me to see if there are other historical fiction authors I could connect with. I’d already met a fun, generous author, Amy Sue Nathan (I postedrecently about her passing), who wrote historical fiction. We are members of the Women’s Fiction Writers Association (WFWA), a diverse international group dedicated to writing under the wide umbrella of women’s fiction. Lots of genres snugly fit under its canopy; historical fiction is one.
So, one afternoon I place a little notice on the WFWA’s Facebook page: “Historical Fiction writers! If interested in getting together, let me know.”
Magically, ten authors respond. We set up a Zoom call.
At the meeting, we talk about what we want from our group. We didn’t know then that the goals we set would be guideposts still in place today.
To have camaraderie with kindred spirits writing historical fiction that understand and love historical fiction’s unique challenges and fun.
To hear insights and ideas on researching and writing historical fiction.
To provide mutual support.
To maintain the focus of our discussion through the lens of historical fiction versus general fiction questions.
All were welcome, we decided. Members weren’t required to be writing historical fiction, just willing to support the histfic focus.
And each other.
The Sum Is Greater Than the Whole
Today, it’s four years later. That initial group of ten has grown to nearly two hundred authors. A handful of the founding women are still active. Many authors come through and stay awhile, then move on.
The constant influx of new people feeds the group’s vitality and dynamic conversation.
Our single-hour weekly meetings speed by. We celebrate, commiserate, offer help, learn from each other and guest experts, form spin-off critique groups, beta read and write reviews for each other, and coordinate marketing efforts.
One small group created and conducted a workshop at the WFWA’s 10th Anniversary writer’s conference last fall (I posted about it).
And now — another exuberant outcome of the HistFic Group is a spin-off of twenty-three authors publishing an anthology of short stories. It’s called Feisty Deeds: Historical Fictions of Daring Women. My short story, “The Parisian Daughter”, is one of twenty-two stories of enterprising women spanning six centuries. If you’re interested in a sneak peek, you can get a free copy from the book review site, NetGalley. Since all the proceeds will go to the WFWA Scholarship Fund, any reviews you can post will help algorithms spread the word. Feisty Deeds’ publication date is June 8.
The willingness to create community is now a splashy fountain of sisterhood.
Scary to Choose to be New
I have a ton of gratitude for that group and what coming together with likeminded people and a spirit of serving and supporting each other can create. Looking back I recognize that I was lonely.
Insecure.
Who knew that “coming of age/adolescent” of trying to fit in, questioning identity, imposter syndrome reappears throughout one’s life, especially when the familiar is breaking up and a new portal beckons to be crossed.
It’s so damn scary to choose to be someone new.
I had to lean in trusting that what was showing up, was exactly the lesson I could elect to learn. That I could allow that lesson to unfold and with it the ideas needed to see it through.
In this light, leaning into the discomfort — all the lonely anxious worried shameful-ness of those moments — actually birthed that little idea to reach out to others.
Right where I saw scarcity there was bounty.
Right where I felt alone, there was companionship.
We’re here for each other, right? It’s one of the reasons the Substack community is different.
There’s connection between readers and writers, and with that, the potential for support.
Final Thoughts
Check out this excellent post under The Healthier Hustle called “Right Time, Right Place, Right People,” on intentionally designed spaces and experiences. Mary Chris really expands on the topic of how to set up a great group happening.
Also - I am giving a talk on “The Top 10 Secrets to Forming Vibrant, Lasting HistFic Author Communities” on a live Zoom May 24. It’s a Historical Novel Society’s 2024 pre-conference workshop. Fellow member Kimberly Sullivan and I will share the tactical things the HistFic Group did to thrive. If interested, here’s the link to register. (If you can’t attend live (11:00am - 12:00pm EST), you’ll get the recording and slides).
Lots of shameless marketing in this post! Or. . . a desire to arm you with a little group-forming abracadabra.
Magically,
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