Let's write! Today on Google Meet

Join me for the In Writing Creative Hour

(Every time I send one of these Creative Hour emails, I have a headache trying to find an image. Substack gives you a stock image library to select from, but when I type in something related to writing, so much of what comes back is just awful and makes me want to poke my eyes out. It’ll be a young woman in a straw fedora clutching a notebook while watching the sunset on a beach. Or it’ll be some Scrabble letters arranged into an inspirational slogan, like WRITE FROM THE SPIRIT. Or it’ll be a moody close-up of a typewriter, or a quill and ink, or some other writing equipment that none of us are actually using [if you’re using a typewriter or a quill and ink, you can smugly correct me in the comments]. And so every week I plump for some boring laptop or notebook. I’ve officially been hosting these sessions here for over a year now, and it’s probably time I make an In Writing Creative Hour official graphic – watch this space.)

GETTING TO THE POINT NOW, please join me today for the In Writing Creative Hour, on Google Meet from 6pm UK time.

If you’re in a different time zone, you can use this calculator to work out what time we’re meeting – just put your own location into the second section.

If you haven’t attended a Creative Hour before, it’s a get-together for paying subscribers online. We say hello and have a brief chat, then write together in companionable silence for fifty minutes. It’s a small act of writerly solidarity, an opportunity to get to know other writers, and a lovely way to end the week.

What I really love is putting faces to the names of those who subscribe to In Writing, and chatting about the projects you’re working on – do tell me what that is (you can keep it vague if it’s at a top-secret stage).

If you’re planning to join us, let me know in the comments below, if you like.

The schedule:

6pm GMT (that’s UK time): Click the link below to open Google Meet.

I’d love you to switch your camera on for the first few minutes while we settle in, and keep it on throughout the hour if you can bear it (it adds to the feeling that we’re all working side by side). As for microphones, we’ll follow a general rule of staying on mute, but unmuting when we want to speak. Please chime in during the chats at the beginning and end – I’d love to hear from you.

6.05-ish: Writing time. If you’re running late, you’re welcome to slip in whenever, but don’t be offended if we don’t say hello. As for what to write – it’s totally up to you. Pick up a project that you’ve been neglecting, start something new, or if you’re stuck for inspiration, do some journalling or write a letter.

6.55-ish: We’ll return to wrap up the hour and reflect on how it went.

7pm: Say goodbye, and feel pleased with yourself for the rest of the day.

The link: