Word Raft

I have a crazy idea — I would like to start a private writing support group called Word Raft. It would be a small group of dedicated writers that help each other. The goal of rafting with us would be to encourage you to consistently write and publish articles online.

There are four rules:

  1. You have to publish one article per week. If you don't, we kick you out of the raft. By not publishing, you stop rafting.
  2. This raft is pretty small, and the river is pretty dangerous so we don't allow more than five rafters at any given time.
  3. Once you're kicked out, you can never join again. Kicking is permanent. Make sure to publish one article per week. That's what you commit yourself to when joining the group.
  4. Yes, I can be kicked out too and will transfer ownership to the remaining rafters if that happens.

But why, though?

I find it hard to commit to publishing an article every week. I've looked for a community like this online for a long time and I've still not found anything. I haven't found any supportive writing-specific communities. I think they are all private and/or paid. That's why I've decided to start this one. It's also private, but it's totally free!

Why should I join, though?

Because writing is amazing and you feel that you should write more and more regularly. By joining, you commit to writing regularly, receive and give feedback and therefore improve your writing skills.

What if I write posts in advance and then publish once per week?

Wow, you really like to play it safe. That's totally fine, though. The important thing is to raft, with or without the swim ring.

How do you plan to implement this?

I'm thinking about starting a low-volume Slack community where we would share links to the articles from each week and give and take feedback on early drafts.

Do you have some criteria for acceptance?

I think it would be best if you:

  • are not just getting started with publishing online
  • have experienced the pain of not writing regularly
  • your articles are not overly specific to your niche or too technical (so you can receive feedback)

What's the next step?

If you like my crazy idea, let me know and we'll get started. If not, I totally understand. Rafting is not for everyone. No hard feelings and enjoy your day!

🚣

Want to talk more about this or any other topic? Email me. I welcome every email.