how the heck do you find writing community? | beta readers, critique partners and process change

hey lovely people, let's chat about finding community and how I'm incorporating critique partners earlier!
Meredith's critique partner match-up: • Critique Partner Tips ...

[@TiaraTalksWriting]

I found a writing group through tiktok and have been in it for about a year now. I really love the people in it and we all do writing sprints together all the time. And it’s kept me pretty accountable with my writing. But I’ve been in some groups that just die out or don’t work for whatever reason, so i think i got extremely lucky with this group 😅 but yes community is so important when it comes to writing!!!

[@ldjwrites]

I needed this video so badly

[@MeredithPhillipsWrites]

Ugh, I suck at making friends in general, but finding writing friends is so niche it makes it even more difficult!! Most of my problem is self-confidence, though. I’ll push myself to go to meetings or try to chat with people online, but then when people are nice in response, my brain is like ‘oh, they’re just being polite, they didn’t actually like you.’ What is actually wrong with me.
I completely lucked out with my CPs and they’ve been invaluable in helping me improve my writing and get work done. You definitely have to push to get past that initial awkward stage of superficial conversation, though.

[@alyssa.and.the.books.]

this is my daily experience lol, truly why do we do this? (:

[@amysteriousviewer3772]

I suppose the odd thing about writing is that it only really becomes a team sport AFTER you’ve already played the game

[@alyssa.and.the.books.]

THIS

[@kaseybenjamin3505]

Love those morning live sprints! Thank you for hosting them. It really keeps me accountable and sets me up for a productive day-and then I usually can’t wait to get home from work to write more! Also, can I just say, I really appreciate your channel and watching your writing journey. It’s so relatable with trying to juggle working a full-time job and living solo on top of writing a whole freaking book(s)!! It is not for the weak! It’s a struggle trying to find the motivation sometimes -your videos/live streams help 🧡

[@aneesabodiat2656]

I want to read the romcom where you go on those 10 dates, and the bet, and the interrogations on kissing technique - I mean, there'll probably need to be a murder mystery in the background based on your current genre, but yeah 🥳

[@alyssa.and.the.books.]

it's definitely providing a lot of inspiration, that's for sure (:

[@Laurapoet33]

It's kind of ridiculous how much I needed this video lol XD I've been feeling the distinct lack of writer friends in my life but haven't really done anything to improve my situation and this was just the kick in the pants that I needed haha. Thank you for acknowledging how painful it is to put yourself out there lol - it's not said enough in these kinds of advice videos! Also! I've been watching your lives after the fact and they've been helping me get words in - we live in the same time zone so I really should just get out of bed and join sometime!

[@alyssa.and.the.books.]

I love this Laura, so glad this resonated!

[@BonnieNicoleWrites]

I am writing my 4th book and I just gathered the courage last month to share my work with early beta readers. It's nerve wracking but so so important! I love your distinction between the team sport and individual.