First and foremost, it's time to celebrate. I'm on my longest streak re: writing on this blog. I've been publishing every month since Sept. 2024, reaching a 13-month streak. The 2nd-longest was 'only' 11-month -I reached that mark twice in the past though. The best news still: I've no intention to stop. So I expect this 'record' to be beaten on a regular basis going forward -every month literally. What did trigger it?
As I detailed here, 'writing on my blog' has been a very usual 'resolution' for many years -and a frustrating one. At least until last Sept. when I joined the Lonely Writers Club. What's that?
[...] a new ephemeral peer group for writers providing creative mutual support. A space where interested people can transform their writing practices, collaborate with others, and create writing labels with people who share similar interests and visions.
And as I wrote back then: "I think I've found some healthy motivation and a community of peers." As simple as that. Since then, I've seen many more 'clubs' and 'circles' and 'expremients' launched. In no particular order:
- Writers Block
- Foster
- Write of Passage -even though that one will shut down soon
- novlr
And no doubt a countless more I've just no idea they exist. But why, why do we need this to act on our desires? Anu -from Writers Block- called this 'Accountability as a Service' -and I like this framing.
People have all kinds of ambitions, goals, and plans, but consistently following through is the hard part. Some people are wired to make steady progress or have learned to do this well. But many people depend on external pressures and constraints, feedback, check-ins, and high stakes — financial, professional, or social — to spur them into action. All of these things provide accountability.
I wondered if it was specifically true for something like writing; compare to other activities. And I concluded that nope, it might be true for anything. Be it running -run clubs anyone?- or even launching your own startup -this might be the most important added value of all the accelerators and incubators out there.
So next time you feel you've a hard time achieving XYZ, you might want to join a group of people who share the same goal rather sooner than later. It might be life-changing at the end.
