Exercise buddies are not a novel concept. Exercise buddies are training partners, someone you enjoy spending time with and enjoy exercising with. A good exercise buddy gets you turning up to training sessions, and you get them turning up too. You help each other with motivation, you help each other spot on sets, you simply help each other.
A gym I once belonged to gave discounts to people who joined up as a pair because the gym goer with a training buddy is more likely to be a consistent gym goer (and thus paying client) for the long term. Training buddies work.
Writing buddies work too…. For some authors….
Have you ever considered getting a writing buddy?
A writing buddy, like an exercise buddy, is a fellow writer with whom you work to maximise your writing efforts, and foster a sense of community. Here’s how it works….
Shared Goals
A writing buddy is ideally someone who has similar writing goals to you. It’s no good training with someone who is working to a marathon or a bodybuilding championship when all you want to do is get ready for a community fun run or maybe add a bit of muscle tone to your arms before summer.
Having similar goals with a writing buddy allows you each to understand the efforts required to reach those goals. You’ll be working from a common ground which is better to help you motivate one another forward and provide support when things get rough.
Sharing a goal with someone who really empathises with your situation can make it all the sweeter when you reach a milestone and makes their support during hard times all the more meaningful.
Accountability
A writing buddy gets your words happening even when you don’t feel like writing. Agree with your writing buddy that you will both write at an agreed time (you don’t need to actually be writing in the same physical space, online in fine). Chances are, you’re more likely to turn up for your writing session if there’s someone waiting for you to do so. Especially if by turning up to your own session, you’re helping them turn up to theirs.
Personal Connection
Writing can be a lonely game. Isolation can be destructive. A writing buddy helps to keep you grounded and gives you an outlet outside of your own head. A writing buddy can be your outlet to chat about the writing itself or just life in general.
Celebrate Your Wins
Your writing buddy is there to pat you on the back (or crack open the champagne, whatever works) when you reach your goals and meet success along your writing journey. Whether that’s hitting your daily word count target or signing off on a new book contract, your writing buddy is your partner in joy, someone who really understands all of the hard work you’ve put in along the way.
Commiserate Your Setbacks
We all know that the writing life isn’t always smooth sailing. We fall behind on word count goals, stories refuse to work, rejections pile up, bad reviews pop up. Your writing buddy is there as your shoulder to cry on or ear to vent to, or both. A writing buddy is the person that reminds you this is all part of the writing game and to help you get back on track, ready to celebrate the next win.
Learn from One Another’s Techniques and Ideas
While it’s a good idea to find a writing buddy who’s generally at the same point in their writing career, this doesn’t mean you won’t be able to learn something about the craft from one another. You might be quite good at writing dialogue, your writing buddy might be brilliant at writing sensory description. Read one another’s work and share your strengths. Your writing buddy might also be able to help direct you into new thoughts with new ideas.
Inspire One Another
Whether it’s inspiration you can use in your writing or simply inspiration to live as a writer, the writing buddy relationship is and inspiring one. Share ideas, chat about everything not writing related, it’s all inspiration and it’s all there to drive your word count forward.
Take inspiration from your writing buddy’s writing habits, from their dreams and goals and let them take the same inspiration from you. Build one another up, onward, more ideas, more words, more inspiration.
