Become the writer you know you are.

“I joined because I’d been talking about writing a novel for years and was honestly getting embarrassed that I still hadn’t finished it. Having a regular place to write made a huge difference. I finally completed the first draft this spring.”

“I almost didn’t come to my first session because I didn’t know anyone. Within twenty minutes, I was sitting at a table with three other writers comparing notes about our projects. It felt surprisingly easy.”

“Some weeks I get a lot written and some weeks I spend half the session fixing the same paragraph. But I’m working on it every week now, which wasn’t true before I joined.”

“I work from home, so the last thing I wanted was another online writing group. Being in a room with actual people—and seeing the same faces each week—has made writing feel much less isolating.”

“The feedback group helped me see where my draft was losing people without making me feel like I had to rewrite the book in someone else’s voice. Everyone took the work seriously, but nobody was trying to prove they were the smartest person in the room.”

“I thought I was joining to become more disciplined. That has happened, but the unexpected part is that I’ve made real friends here. We talk about books, jobs, relationships, bad drafts—all of it.”

“I had about forty pages when I joined, most of which I kept rewriting instead of moving forward. A few months later, I had an entire messy first draft. It still needs a lot of work, but at least now there’s something to work on.”

“Nobody cares if you show up with five pages or five sentences. You open your laptop, do what you can, and come back the next week. That’s exactly what I needed.”

“I’ve written more in the last two months than I did all last year.”

“I was pretty sure everyone would already know each other. A few people introduced themselves before I even found a seat, and one of them remembered my project the next week.”

“Saturday morning is when I write now.”

“When I started, my book was twelve half-finished chapters saved in different folders. It’s still rough, but at least it’s a book now.”

“I assumed I’d go once, feel awkward, and never come back. I’ve been coming since February.”

“The notes I got were useful and really specific. Nobody tried to turn my story into the one they would have written.”

“I don’t feel motivated most weeks. I go anyway and usually get a few pages done.”

“I had just moved to Austin and barely knew anybody. Most of the people I hang out with now are people I met here.”

“I wrote 1,800 words at my first session, which defintely wasn’t happening at my apartment.”

“At my first session, I outlined for two hours and wrote maybe two paragraphs. No one made me feel weird about it.”

“I finished an essay that had been sitting open on my computer for almost a year.”

“My table last week had a poet, two novelists, a journalist, and a guy writing his first screenplay.”

“I used to spend most of Saturday thinking about writing and then feel bad on Sunday because I hadn’t done it. Now I get home around lunch with a few pages.”

“This is the only writing group I havent muted after the first couple weeks.”

“I’ve made a couple of very close friends here. I didn’t expect that part.”

“The book club made me slow down when I read. I notice how scenes are put together now.”

“I missed three Saturdays and somebody texted to see if I was okay. Apparently that’s the level of accountability I needed.”

“Sometimes I write ten pages. Last week I rewrote the same paragraph for an hour. I’m still moving faster than I was before.”

“I felt sick the first time I sent pages to the feedback group. I’d never shown my fiction to anyone. The notes were kind and clear, and the second time was much easier.”

“Good people and alot more writing than I manage on my own.”

“People care about the work, but nobody makes a big performance out of being a writer.”

“I’d rewritten the opening of my novel so many times that I knew it by heart. Coming here helped me leave it alone and start chapter two.”

“Opening the laptop is usually the hardest part for me. It’s easier when thirty other people have already opened theirs.”

“I’ve paid for online classes and forgotten about them halfway through. It’s harder to forget about a group of people you see every week.”

“Three months later, I have a draft. It needs help, but it exists.”

“I nearly skipped the salon dinner because it sounded a little fancy. It was mostly people eating, drinking wine, and talking about the strange jobs they’ve had to pay for their writing.”

“I’m quiet in big groups, so I expected to keep to myself. Now two people from the club read nearly everything I write.”

“Nobody has asked about my personal brand, thank god.”

“I started my screenplay in 2021 and kept abandoning it. I’ve worked on it every week for the past four months.”

“The writing sessions give me a deadline that doesn’t feel like an assignment.”

“I thought everyone would be published and way ahead of me. They weren’t.”

“I like the few minutes before the session starts. Everyone complains about their week, talks about what they’re working on, then it gets quiet. Its nice.”

“I wrote the piece here, sent it out, and got my first acceptance.”

“There’s very little networking talk. I can say I’m stuck on chapter eight and people know exactly what I mean.”

“I willingly drive across Austin for it every week.”

“I talked about starting a newsletter for two years. Someone here helped me choose a name in about fifteen minutes, and I sent the first issue that Friday.”

“I still procrastinate and hate most of my first drafts. I just don’t disappear from the project for six months anymore.”

“Sometimes the most useful feedback I get is just, ‘Yeah, keep going.’”

“I was embarassingly nervous before the reading night. People laughed where I hoped they would, and I could hear the parts that dragged.”

“I didn’t know I needed a writing group until I came to one.”