The Benefits of a Writing Community

Fresh off of the Women In Publishing 2026 Summit, I’m spending two weeks working at The Museum at Bethel Woods, home of the 1969 Woodstock music festival. Both events had the power of community at their heart—something I want to encourage writers to embrace in all steps of their journey.

The stereotypical image of a writer is someone alone in a little room, maybe a cottage somewhere, cutting themselves off from everyone in order to focus on their writing. And certainly, some people (I’m one of them) write better when they don’t have noise around them. But there is so much more to being a writer than putting words on the page.

And that is where your community comes in.

Why Do Writers Need A Community?

What’s involved in writing a book? Research into the location, the characters, and maybe parts of the plot. Plotting things out if you’re a plotter. Brainstorming as you write. Complaining when you’re stuck. Celebrating when you finish drafts. Editing. Getting an editor. Making publishing decisions. Endless social media, marketing new books, and promotional potential with each published book. These are all steps made better, easier, or/and more confidently within a community. They support us when we’re fighting impostor syndrome. Celebrate with us when something happens that we’re proud of or excited by. As in all things, we are stronger when we have others around us—virtually or in person.

What Can A Community Look Like?

There are endless versions of community, depending on what we want at any given time. During several sessions at the WIP Summit, presenters talked about “writing pods”—another term for a writing group. This could be a group you’ve met through a writing course online or in person, through a library, bookstore group, or a college class. Maybe you meet in-person or maybe you’re checking in via Zoom because you live all over the world. Writing groups can be a place where people share their latest work, meet to talk over difficulties, share what they’ve learned about topics, or just be a group of friends supporting each other in life. They can be very structured or very casual. You could all be writing in the same genre or have different genres you focus on. 

And you can be in different communities with different goals. When I’m in the Women in Publishing group (which is large), I want to meet new people, share ideas, learn from people who know more about publishing than I do, and share what I know with people just starting out. When I’m in the Freelance Editors Club (which is small) I want to connect with other editors, learn from them, find out about resources they like, and support my friends and fellow editors. In my editors’ pod (where there’s only 4 of us), we talk about life as much as we share resources, ask each other questions about work processes, and support one another in general.

What Are Some Benefits to A Writing Community?

You’ve probably already seen some of the benefits to being a part of a community. You have people around you who understand the struggles of being a writer. Some have tried different paths and can give you advice on different options if you’re having trouble along the way. Maybe they can recommend a great editor they hired. When marketing and publishing, having others who have been there will give you some valuable insights! But other people can open us to surprising opportunities as well. Fellow writers can ask you to take part in writing workshops or conferences, host panel discussions, do newsletter shares, or join a short story anthology.

The idea of being part of a writing community—whether that's two other people or 20—may seem daunting at first. Your automatic response might be to say it isn't for you. But keep an open mind. Maybe you just haven't met your people yet.

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