Reach your goals quicker with a writing partner

I met my writing partner, Carly, at a conference. We clicked immediately and discovered that we only lived forty minutes apart. As we worked on our writing, we called each other for support and met every few months to write. When Carly moved to another state, we continued meeting via instant messages and on the phone. And we started a blog.

The benefits of having a writing partner are numerous. Writing can be a lonely business.  Even if you’re married or in a relationship, nobody really understands a writer like another writer. Not only can a writing partner provide moral support and camaraderie on your journey, you can spur each other on to reach your goals.

Carly and I often do timed writes together and sometimes even take breaks to clean our writing space at the same time. We’ll ask each other to review a cover letter, query letter, or some chapters. I’ll send her pictures of my three cats, and she’ll email me back a picture of her green wooden cat statue, Mr. Cat.

A writing partner can point out your blind spots. For example, I write poetry but I’m awful about submitting my work. On Carly’s prodding, I submitted a poem to a writing contest and won second place! Left to my own devices, I may not have submitted the poem. Having a writing partner makes me accountable to another person, and that makes me try harder. After all, we don’t want to let our friends down, do we?

Experiment. Get together with some other writers. See if there’s somebody you click with who also wants a writing buddy.