I recently spent four hours in a private writing retreat with a client, and about halfway through, she said something that really stuck with me:
“I've always held my writing close to the chest. But I'm reading a lot of memoirs of songwriters, and I find out they brainstorm, and it’s never just one person writing everything. Even Taylor Swift has a couple people she bounces ideas with. I used to think, no, I'm holding this tight to my chest, but I’ve learned you really do need a different perspective sometimes.”
This client had been struggling to get off dead center with her manuscript. She had done some amazing character development work, and she knew the general concept and the vibes, but she hadn’t been able to turn that into a plot. She told me it’d been keeping her up at night. That she knew she had a lot of good ideas and material, but she hadn’t really been able to see the full novel until she’d talked it out with me.
Her VIP day was transformational for her and her work in progress, and I was thrilled to have been able to help her out.
But one key think she had clocked really wasn’t specific to me at all. “I don’t know how anybody does this alone,” she at one point.
And here’s the secret: They don’t.
Writing Isn’t a Solitary Act
We love the image of the solitary writer: one person, one desk, one private creative struggle.
But writing alone isn’t what makes writing powerful.
Writing alone is just…writing alone.
The work might happen in solitude, but clarity rarely does.
Clarity comes from:
saying your ideas out loud
having someone reflect them back to you
hearing where you’re circling instead of moving
realizing which parts matter most because someone else can see the pattern
Community doesn’t silence or dilute your voice; it helps you hear it more clearly.
Sometimes You Need Witnesses, Not Willpower
Especially if you’re writing in a busy season of life—between kids, work, mental load, and exhaustion—the problem usually isn’t discipline.
It’s isolation.
You don’t need someone telling you to push harder.
You need someone who can say:
“I see what you’re trying to do here.”
“This is the part that’s lighting up.”
“What if you followed that thread?”
That kind of witnessing can turn a stack of ideas into real momentum.
What the Right Writing Community Actually Gives You
The right community doesn’t just cheer you on. It helps you think.
It gives you:
perspective when you’re too close to your own work
momentum when you’ve stalled out
reassurance that you’re not broken or behind
space to talk through ideas before they harden into doubt
people who understand the constraints of your season
You’re still the one writing the book, but you don’t have to figure it all out alone.
Writing Is Personal—But It Doesn’t Have to Be Lonely
Your story is yours, and your voice is yours, but the process doesn’t have to happen in a vacuum.
Sometimes all it takes is one conversation to help you see the shape that’s felt so muddy to you for so long.
That’s what Inkwell members do for each other during our weekly writing sessions, monthly craft chats, and continuous Voxer group coaching. We cheer and cheerlead, absolutely, but we also ask the questions and share the sparks that help our fellow authors see their next steps—and get excited to keep going.
If you’ve been feeling isolated in your writing practice and would like the kind of support that only comes from community, we’d love to have you. You can learn more about The Inkwell here.