Having a consistent writing practice is essential to being a writer, yet it remains a struggle for me. Lately, I’ve been using The Writers’ Hour to ensure I get to my desk and stay there. The Writers’ Hour is a free one-hour writing session hosted daily in four different time zones by the London Writers’ Salon. Writers of all ages and stages are welcome and join from all over the world to work on projects that suit them. There are poets and novelists and young adult authors, but there are also students working on dissertations, freelancers working on business pitches, and those that just need the space and permission to write anything.
I use the hour for personal writing. It’s my hour of the day to set aside client work and write whatever strikes my fancy. One day I might work on creative nonfiction essays. Another day I might feel less creatively inclined and free-write for an hour about the frustration of writing with an empty brain. The goal isn’t to write specifically to produce, rather, it’s a time to write for the sake of writing: a time to hone my skills and write for enjoyment.
How it Works
The Writers’ Hour begins with a brief burst of hellos and laughter until the moderator mutes everyone and begins by introducing the mantra of the hour (borrowed from Neil Gaiman’s writing philosophy), “Either write or do nothing at all.”
We are encouraged to state the projects we are working on in the chat for accountability. The moderator reads off a few examples of our goals and then reads a quote about writing gathered from a member of The Writer’s Hour. Once the quote has been read, we all buckle down and get to work. At the end of the hour, there is one more opportunity to connect by sharing what we accomplished. I am usually in a writing zone, by that point, so I just mute my computer and keep going.
What I Gain
I love the community The Writers’ Hour creates. I don’t know anyone at the sessions, but the more I attend, the more I recognize certain faces, and bits of personalities begin to emerge. Sometimes I’ll sneak a quick peek at the screen and see what others’ faces are expressing. I see many varieties of my own writing face: a writer with a furrowed brow staring down at a keyboard, another with their chin resting on their fist staring blankly at the computer screen, or even another with their head held in both their hands, either thinking furiously or despairing of the writing process. They’re all me and I am them. We are writers coming together to share that painful and sometimes victorious journey of writing, but we are doing it together for just one short hour of our days.
The Writers’ Hour also gives me the structure I struggle to create for myself. I love working from home, making my hours, and choosing my own very relaxed wardrobe, but it has taken time to learn how to build an organized day for myself. Incorporating LMS’ Writers’ Hour into my schedule means I struggle less with getting myself to my desk and I get to enjoy more time with other writers, all while honing my craft .