August Newsletter
Finding Your “Write Squad”
It’s impossible to survive the publishing business intact without a group of writer friends. I honestly don’t know how people do it, and I know for a fact I wouldn’t be here (and none of you would be reading this newsletter) if I didn’t have my Write Squad to prop me up.
If you don’t want to hear me get mushy about my people, go ahead and scroll down to the part of this newsletter where I share my tips for finding your OWN group of writer buddies. Otherwise, I’m about to gush.
This past weekend, my wife and I traveled to Savannah, Georgia to meet up with a few writer friends, including Shannon Balloon (of “Middle Grade Matters” podcast fame), Audrey Burges (The Miniscule Mansion of Myra Malone & A House Like an Accordion), and Christy Swift (Celebrity Crush).
While we were together, we wrote, read, revised, laughed, commiserated, and unwittingly shared a meal on River Street during a tornado warning.
I had met Shannon before at another Write Squad member’s book launch (Kelly Ohlert, To Get to the Other Side & Let’s Get Quizzical), but it was my first time meeting Audrey and Christy in person.
We all met virtually in 2018 during an online story pitch contest. Kelly hit up a hashtag asking if anyone wanted to start a group chat where we could all post about how nervous we were waiting for results. A handful of us joined, and the more we got to know each other, the more we liked each other. Naturally, we then started sharing manuscripts, feedback, support, and grief while navigating the query trenches.
Over the past almost six years, the Write Squad (which also includes Kelly Kates, Kyra Whitton, the aptly-named and mysterious “Dr. Marie Lestrange,” and the occasional drop-in from Laurel Hostetter) has become a daily go-to for keeping my head on straight when book stuff gets stressful. You all deserve people like this in your life, and I want to help you find them.
Tips for Finding Your Writer Group Online
First, I know this isn't easy for a lot of people. It means putting yourself out there without knowing whether your efforts will be reciprocated. That is TERRIFYING, and any sort of failure in making these friends can feel crushing. Be prepared to leave your comfort zone!
Tip #1: Find Your Platform
For me, Twitter/X is where I found it easiest to post, reply, and respond to people. For other folks, it's TikTok or Facebook or Instagram or Reddit. Just find one that aligns with your interests/values. I also once heard someone say to find the platform that you hate the LEAST and start digging in there.
From there, do some googling about hashtags or groups you can join. Facebook has a ton of writer groups, and other platforms have hashtags like #amwriting, #writingcommunity, #booktok, and #bookstagram. Just dig in and start poking around!
Tip #2: Follow People & Interact
Find people you like and/or admire on that platform. Follow their feeds, comment on posts, and like stuff, but make sure you do so authentically. Eventually, some of these people will start to recognize your name, and if you vibe, they'll follow back. Even if they DON'T follow back, stay active in the Author's Niche of that platform. Keep adding yourself to conversations, commenting, cracking jokes, asking questions, etc. The more involved you are, the more people will recognize you and consider you part of the group/community.
Tip #3: Participate in Activities
I know PitchWars doesn't exist anymore and RevPit has moved to Reddit, but finding people who were in the exact same stressed-out boat as me is how I made about 90% of my writer friends online. All were unpublished, hopeful authors at the time, just like me. We were all anxious and nervous, but we formed some side group chats, shared ideas and passages with each other, and then the questions turned toward our personal lives, interests, etc. It's gradual, but you slowly go from acquaintances to friends.
RevPit still exists and is a great way to do this, but whatever it is, find some of these online "events" and go make yourself part of them. Find beta reader swaps or critique partner contests or whatever it is. Get yourself in there. Hell, you could even START the group chat!
Tip #4: Start a Group Chat
It was Kelly Ohlert who started the Twitter thread that would become the Write Squad group chat. She literally just said, "Any nervous nellies want to start a group chat?" We ended up with a really nice group, and we're still besties years later.
You also can find groups or communities that are pre-set up for people like you. I used to go looking for people who wrote my same genre and/or age level and would just reach out. Some I connected with, others I did not. But I was trying to find a logical group/community for me.
Tip #5: Put in Consistent Effort
When you're lucky enough to find a group or another writer who you click with, make sure you maintain and nurture that connection. Keep asking questions, see if they're okay, if they want eyeballs on any of their writing, or need to bounce ideas off you. As with any friendship, you ideally will get out what you put into it. Don't expect someone else to do all the heavy lifting. Get yourself in there and do some lifting yourself. Might you be annoying to someone? Sure. But I always assume I'm not until notified otherwise!
Tip #6: Don't Give Up
A lot of us writers are weirdos. Many of us are socially awkward and introverts. We may inject ourselves into some conversations where we are not wanted. Some people or groups may not be especially interested in including you. That's okay. The world has all types! But just because you don't fit with one group doesn't mean you won't fit with ANY group. The only way to find these writer friends is to stick with it. Don't quit. There's someone out there just as desperate to make writer friends as you are. Don't let them remain unfound!
Brigham Editorial Logo Redesign
The first Brigham Editorial logo was something I slapped together in about 15 minutes over a lunch break a few years ago. I found a free-use vector image for the main logo and played around with a few fonts until I found something I liked. I always knew I wanted a more professional-looking logo eventually, but it just wasn’t something I ever found time to think deeply about.
This summer, I hired a graphic designer to help me rebrand, and I’m thrilled with the results:
The color swatches are exactly the same as the old logo, and I did choose them for a reason:
Red is my favorite color, but it’s also the color of pen I’ve always used to mark up manuscripts (and student work!). Red pen marks mean the author has some work to do. It’s also a big, bold color that pops when you see it.
I chose taupe because it looks good with red.
I think this new logo is slick and can’t wait to get it embroidered onto a hoodie or three-quarter zip or something. I’m a sucker for swag, even (especially?) when it’s my own swag :)
Brigham Editorial Softball Team Wins In-Town Championship
You may have noticed that there was no July newsletter, and that’s because I was deep in the throes of multiple in-town softball tournaments as both a coach and league organizer. For those who don’t know, I’m the head of my town’s in-town recreational softball organization. This year, we had five leagues and almost 700 girls enrolled, so I stayed busy with parent communication, rain reschedules, and of course helping to coach my two daughters’ teams.
I was EXHAUSTED after all of this and just didn’t have the juice to write a newsletter, but the good news is that both my daughters’ teams won their respective league championships, including my older daughter’s team, for whom Brigham Editorial was the sponsor.
I’ve had a good chunk of this team together for five years, and we had never even made it to a championship before this season. Just like with my writing clients, it’s always amazing to see how hard work translates into growth. Nothing brings me more joy!
What I’m Reading
With all the softball, vacationing, and editing I’ve been doing this summer, there hasn’t been much time to read for pleasure. Still, a couple of books have stuck out as interesting:
Beautiful Little Fools, by Jillian Cantor
The Great Gatsby is my favorite book to teach and one of my favorite books, period. This retelling turns Gatsby’s death into a murder mystery where it wasn’t George Wilson who shot him, but one of the novel’s three female characters: Daisy, Jordan, and Catherine (Myrtle Wilson’s sister).
Because I LOVED James, the critically-acclaimed and unapologetically badass Huck Finn retelling, I thought I’d be just as into this, but some of the explorations of these characters’ pasts ended up feeling a little flat, and I had a hard time believing anyone but George would’ve killed Gatsby. Still, it was VERY cool to see these female characters’ perspectives explored a little more deeply, and it settles in as another American Literature staple getting a look through a new lens. I’m already deciding which chapter would be most interesting to pair with the actual Gatsby text when I teach it to my high school juniors this fall.
The Memory of an Elephant, by Alex Lasker
Like in Remarkably Bright Creatures, where the octopus gets an occasional POV chapter, The Memory of an Elephant tells the story of an elephant trying to get back home with occasional insights from the elephant himself. The rest, though, is told from the humans’ perspectives, and I was excited to read it because it was one of the highest-rated books I’ve ever seen on Goodreads with a significant number of reviews (4.62!)
But my editor eyeballs marked this almost immediately as a pantsed book that didn’t get the benefit of big-picture revisions that would’ve made it feel more cohesive and circular. It was a lot of “And then… and then… and then…” instead of choices, decisions, and consequences that led to more choices, decisions, and consequences. The characters felt thin to me, too.
A lot of people clearly love the book, but I wasn’t one of them. I did love the elephant, though. The elephant is a keeper.
Thanks for reading! If you’re new here, don’t forget to subscribe, and please share with any other writer buddies you think may benefit.
Hugs and high fives,
-JB