Susan and John Ruff, Fantasy Authors

Some solo activities lend themselves well to working around others. Quilting, for example, is always more fun when done in a room with other quilters. Even when each participant is working on a separate project, being in the same place as people engaging in similar tasks provides a spirit of camaraderie. You can talk and joke together as you sew.

Creating that same atmosphere for fiction writing is a bit more challenging. Obviously, you cannot get together in a large room and spend all your time talking and laughing or you’ll never get any writing done. Over the years, I have participated in group activities related to writing — for example writer’s critique groups or shared world anthologies.

But finding a group where the members get together consistently to write is more difficult. Years ago, an author friend and I had tried to meet once a week at my house to write, but it quickly devolved into the two of us talking about writing, and we never got any actual writing done.

Then about six months ago, I started participating in an activity called “Page Pals” at Bryan Cohen’s Author Ad School. It’s a very simple idea. Authors log into a Zoom room to write. Each session lasts for two hours. The rules require you to keep your cameras turned off and your microphones muted while you are on the Zoom call. When you arrive, you post your starting word count for your current work-in-progress in the Zoom chat, write for two hours, and then post your ending word count in chat.

The first time I told John about Page Pals, he laughed at the idea. He could not understand how staring at a blank Zoom screen would make my writing more productive.

But strangely, I found that it works for me. Knowing that other authors on the Zoom call are writing at the same time as I am (even though all I see is a bunch of names on a screen), is very motivating. The participants greet each other in chat when we first log on, providing a feeling of camaraderie. Of course, it’s not quite the same as being in a room with other quilters, but I really do get the sense of writing together in the same space.

In addition, posting the starting and ending word counts gives accountability. Although there are no rules for how much you have to write in those two hours, I still push aside distractions and focus on writing so that my ending count will feel like a personal accomplishment.

I don’t know if joining together in a silent Zoom room would work for other authors, but it definitely has been great for me. Without the discipline of Page Pals, my typical writing day consists of about 500 new words added to my work-in-progress. With Page Pals, I’ve seen my word count go up to 1,200 words or more during that two-hour stretch. Some of the other authors write more than 2,000 words during that time.

I suppose, in a way, NaNoWriMo creates a similar shared writing experience with other authors. I participated in NaNoWriMo back in November 2021 when John and I were writing The Door Ajar. It was a great experience and I succeeded in writing 50,000 words during that month, but it was too intense to try all year long. I’ve found Page Pals to be a far more sustainable way to engage in group writing.

As a result of all that great writing time, John and I are rapidly finishing the first draft of our latest novel. Stay tuned for more details to come!

-Susan 6/7/2024