I Set Up A Write-In In My Hometown. Here Are 5 Things It’s Taught Me

If you build it, they will come (on the first and third Wednesdays of each month)

For just over a year now, twice a month, every month, I plonk myself down at a big table in a cafe in my hometown at 10am and stay there for two hours. The reason I always bagsy a big table – and why I always stay there for two hours – is that I go to this café with the specific purpose not just to write, but to write alongside others. I called it the Ilkley Write-In, and as well as being one of the biggest sources of caffeine in my life, it’s also proved to be one of the biggest sources of joy. Here are five reasons why that’s the case – or to put it another way: five things I’ve learned setting up and running it for a year.

1. If you create something inspired by a need or want in you, you will probably be fulfilling it in others too

I started the Write-In – two years after moving to Ilkley – because I wanted to get away from the splendid isolation of my desk at home from time to time. I also figured (or rather: hoped) that other people might want to, too.

I knew I didn’t want it to be a writing group – ie one in which people share their creative writing with each other – but more a place to write, whatever kind of writing you’re doing. (Not least because Ilkley already has a cracking writing group, Moor Words, run by local writer Emily DeVane out of our lovely independent bookshop The Grove.)

To host such a thing weekly felt like a commitment I might have difficulty in fulfilling, yet monthly felt too infrequent. So I settled for twice a month, on the first and third Wednesdays (a day that neatly breaks up the week, and a set-up which meant I didn’t have to constantly put out new posters and flyers with dates. *insert Roll Safe meme here*). And I decided on two hours, 10am-12pm: enough time to feel worthwhile, yet not so long it would feel onerous to me or anyone else (also: people can drop in and out anytime between those times, and stay for as long as they like).

I chose the local café Outside The Box Cafe because I knew it was warm and welcoming (and crucially had at least one big table I could bagsy), and because – being a charity and a café that’s mostly staffed by adults with learning disabilities – I wanted to support it.

All of this to say: I set up the Write-In to help myself as well as others, and with parameters that would work for me. And I figured – and continue to figure – that if it’s just me who turns up each time, that’s absolutely fine. Because it gets me out of the house, gives me a change of scenery while I work, means I get to chat with the brilliant folk who work in the café, and puts me in the vicinity of cake.

But that’s the thing: it never is just me.

Because it turns out…

2. So many people want space and time to do – and talk about – their creative work

At each Write-In, one by one, other folk arrive to write. I knew I wanted it to be for all kinds of people, doing any kind of writing – whether for work and pleasure – and, delightedly, it’s turned out to be just that.

People of all ages, from all walks of life, come along to do all kinds of writing – poetry, short stories, first (or second!) novels, screenplays, academic research or marking, social media posts, copywriting, journalling… you name it. Some come regularly, others have come when they can, and there are always newcomers at every session. Sometimes there are three of us, sometimes there are 10, most times it’s something in between.

And what our conversations around the big table have shown me is that it’s not (just) about getting out of the house. It’s about devoting time and space to writing. To take your writing – and your desire to do it – seriously. To have, per Virginia Woolf, a regular seat at a café table of one’s own.

In this way, I’ve realised that the Write-In is very much about normalising writing:  creating a ‘safe space’, for want of a better term, where people can talk about their writing, share their ups and downs about it, and give and receive advice and support. All of which I am very much up for, because…

3. Sharing our creative journeys with each other is energising and sustaining

I leave every Write-In with a spring in my step, buoyed up and energised, and it’s not just because of the caffeine I’ve consumed (or occasional bowl of porridge with fruit and seeds topping. Outside The Box has an excellent menu).

Being with others in this way – writing alongside each other, chatting to each other about writing and the progress we’re making (or let’s face it, sometimes not making) – is hugely supportive and inspiring. It fills my well, not just creatively but emotionally and mentally, and I’m so grateful to everyone who comes along for just that.

It doesn’t even matter if I end up doing little writing, due to the interesting conversations I find myself having with others about writing and countless things besides. (Although I admit that I once did so little work at one Write-In session that I did ponder the idea of setting up a Talk-In, where all we do is chat, on the second and fourth Wednesday of each month.)

As I say, the sustenance and joy the Write-In brings me goes beyond the creative. Because, I’ve realised…

4. Focusing on the local and in-person helps you stay sane in a mad world

We live in overwhelming, depressing, rage-making times. Fascism has come to America, transphobia has become mainstream in Britain, and speaking out against Israel’s inhumane acts in Gaza seems to cause more outrage than the actual acts themselves. Online we are likely to be staying in our lanes, served content that deliberately keeps us in our silos and, it seems, more separated from each other than ever.

It’s easy to think that our creativity, our art, is a silly or self-indulgent pursuit at the best of times, let alone during overwhelming, depressing, rage-making times.

But it’s not; it’s a very human way of enduring and making sense of them. And just as political activism on a local level is a positive way of channelling your energy on national and international issues, so I’ve realised that channelling my energy into local, in-person connections helps me to cope better with the awful stuff happening in the wider world.

Whether they’re with my fellow writers or the lovely staff at Outside The Box, the in-person interactions I have on those Wednesdays ground me, delight me and remind me that I am surrounded – as we all are – by kind, generous people doing their best and making a difference.

So when the wider picture feels overwhelming, I urge you to concentrate on the small stuff. It works when you feel overwhelmed by a piece of creative work (eg a feature film script broken down act by act, page by page, scene by scene) and, I’ve now realised, it works when it comes to international news/social media/geopolitics. Who knew?!

5. You never know where something like this will lead you (in a good way)

The ripple effect of this new venture in my life has been huge, and extended well beyond the Write-In itself.

It’s led to connections, friendships, a talk to that brilliant local writing group I mentioned, the idea of hosting proper writing workshops, and even me joining a jazz band (long story). And in a move I never saw coming, it’s also led to me busking for the very first time… at Outside The Box:

I realise that busking might be a step too far, but for all five reasons above, I highly recommend setting up a Write-In in your own community. Or more precisely: setting up whatever the equivalent of a Write-In looks like for you. What do you wish there was in your hometown? What personal need or desire do you have around your creativity that you suspect others might have, too?

Feel free to share your ideas – and/or reach out to me for any tips – in the comments or here. And if you’re Ilkley-way, please do feel free to come along to a Write-In anytime. As you’ve probably established by now: it’s at Outside The Box on the first and third Wednesdays of every month, 10am-12pm, and everyone’s welcome.

Oh, and they do really great cakes. And porridge.