As we discussed in our latest episode, we are starting a writing collective.

This season (now until end of May 2020), Marginally will be experimenting with setting a small writing collective in a chat app. We’re calling it a collective, but it is really a mix of a support group, community and critique group.

It will be a small group, so we’re only looking for 3-5 people to join us.

Over the summer, we spent a lot of time thinking and talking with each other about how to build more personal communities connected to this podcast and with our writing. (Also, the Facebook corporation is kinda creeping us out. But we’ll stay on Insta because we like it, for now.) We have been swapping stories for a while, and we like the vulnerability that doing that gives you.

Having a few more people and giving it a name will give it more accountability and structure as well.

How it will work:

• We will have a chat group (using a non-Facebook-owned chat app that respects privacy as much as possible), where we will exchange messages, writing samples, even sometimes voice memos – about how we are doing and with critique or comments.
• We will have regular write-ins, alternating between European and US time zones, but aiming for times that are at least potentially feasible for other members.
• Other members can also organize write-ins if they would like.

The principles of the Marginally Writing Collective:

1. We make time for our writing. This group will be an additional support mechanism for people who are already making time to write. Sure, maybe not every day, but regularly, and with the aim of getting it in front of an audience. You need to plan having something to share with the group every month or so.
2. We make time for each other. When you join this group, you will be agreeing to read the other members’ work and give them useful feedback that will help them continue in their growth as a writer.
3. We are forming a community. The purpose of this is to push us all further towards our goals – whatever they are – and to do this with a friendly and fun group where we can be honest about our challenges and difficulties. We also include all group members (no side writing swaps between you and 1 other person in the group).
4. We will make it as private as possible. To make this open to people in different time zones and with busy schedules, we are planning to use a chat group format. We will be looking for the most private one – potentially a private group on Telegram. It won’t be on WhatsApp (Facebook-owned), and we are happy to take suggestions on apps if you have them.
5. It is truly collective – everyone owns the group. We are setting this up, but it is not a coaching program for us to help you along. We are just providing the platform and the initial set-up. Each member is equal after that. In fact, if you disagree with any of these principles, or have one to add, we welcome discussion and proposals (though we’ll spare you the call-response-repetition structure of Occupy).

Want to join?

Send an answer to these questions to our email podcast@marginallypodcast.com:

1. What are you currently working on, and what stage are you at in that project?
2. What are the writing accomplishments you’re most proud of? (This doesn’t have to be publication – could be finishing a big or small project, or querying something, or whatever else.)
3. How much time will you be able to give to this, and how will you protect that time?
4. Have you ever been in a writing group before? If yes, tell us about your experience.

Bonus question: Feel free to comment on any of the following topics that are relevant to our cooperative, or your own:

• Jane the Virgin,
• Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott,
• How To Do Nothing by Jenny Odell,
• Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion,
• the self-help industry,
• poetry,
• mindfulness,
• neoliberalism,
• late-stage capitalism,
• etc.