The Undoubted Benefit of a Writing Companion

Jennifer and I meet regularly usually at the same time each month primarily to discuss our current writing projects. For her this means a ferry ride from Devonport and for me a twenty minute walk into the city – sometimes a short bus ride. We’ve been meeting up for ten years and during that time have sampled a fair number of cafes and coffee shops from back street brasseries with nothing but the coffee to distinguish them to five star tourist hotels with astonishing views. Of course the sole subject of conversation is not wholly writing and we often stray into a variety of other topics both philistine and scholarly – sometimes it’s simply cooking and how the day to day provision of food has a habit of interfering with what we see as the purpose to life. We have definitely learned a lot from each other and that very fact was what we discussed at length the other day sitting in Notting Hill Café in Parnell Road. The following is what Jennifer wrote later on her blog and I think it is of sufficient importance to all of us who write to republish here. We could perhaps all benefit from a Writing Companion – a Tinder Site for Those Who Write perhaps?

AUGUST 9, 2019 ~ JENNIFER BARRACLOUGH
Writing is a solitary occupation and the writer’s life can be lonely. Festivals, courses, talks and local groups provide valuable opportunities for professional development and social contact, but attendance can cost a lot of time and money and distract from the writing itself. For myself, one of the most productive, economical and enjoyable forms of support has come from a long-term partnership with one other person.

My first meeting with Jean was serendipitous. After being introduced at a lunch party in Auckland given by mutual friends, we discovered that we had both been brought up in Gravesend, a small town in north Kent, and had left England because of being married to New Zealand men. We arranged to meet for coffee a few weeks later and then found that we were both already published authors, Jean in the field of education and me in that of medicine, and both working on new books. This turned out to be the first of 100-odd coffee dates that have taken place almost every month for the past ten years.

Over this time we have developed a close friendship, discussed many topics ranging from animals to the afterlife, and supported each other through the trials of family illnesses and bereavements. But the main focus of our meetings has always been writing, and we have exchanged a great deal of factual information as well as encouragement and support. When we first met, we were exploring what was then the relatively new option of self-publishing. We have since both gone on to self-publish several books, both fiction and nonfiction. Most of Jean’s are set in north Kent, and my next one will be too.

We have read each other’s draft manuscripts and offered constructive criticism; shared information about the technicalities of using the various publishing platforms; exchanged recommendations for editors and cover designers; and tackled the challenges of marketing.

I have been very lucky to have found such a faithful and compatible “writing companion”. Maybe, if it does not exist already, there is a place for the equivalent of a dating website to pair other writers up?