Mondays are fun days for me. My local NaNoWriMo group has gotten into the habit of meeting on Monday evenings for a few hours in what they call a ‘write-in’. We meet at a local coffee shop and basically take over the entire table area, and write together.

Well, some of us write. The rest of us (myself included) kibitz like crazy. I generally don’t get nearly as much writing done at a write-in as I do at home, but then, that’s not the whole point of it, anyhow.

We like to bounce ideas off each other. We have discussions about our characters and offer insight to each other on how to write about certain emotions and express them properly in our story. We talk about plot points, story structure, where to start, how to end…heck, you name it, and we’ll talk about it.

It’s also a good social outlet. What better place for writer-types to hang out than in the much clichéd location of a coffee shop, right? Yummy coffee and good friends.

Winter is my favorite time to do this as well. I like the progression from late afternoon to early evening, as the sun sets and darkness sets in. If I’m lucky, it might even be snowing or raining. (I know, that’s weird, but I live in Arizona. Rain is a Big Deal here. And yes, snow. I live in the mountains of northern Arizona and we actually get snow a few times during the winter. Yay!)

The other great thing about write-ins are that they are a good way to commit to your project, especially during the month of NaNoWriMo. Everyone is focused on getting their word-count in for the day, and we all encourage each other to keep going, offering goals like, “You can’t use the restroom until you write 200 more words from right now!” or “Go go go! You can reach 3,000 words today!”

And, as it turns out, I am writing this very post at a write-in event. We keep the Monday night one going throughout the year, outside of NaNoWriMo, which is great as it also keeps all of us who are really involved with NaNo a place and time to keep seeing each other regularly.

I encourage you, if you can, to find and go to a write-in at least monthly, if not weekly. And if you can’t find one, maybe start one. It’s nice to have a bunch of like-minded writers at your beck and call for a few hours. I am grateful for my writer friends. And for coffee. Mint mocha coffee.

We’ll save the yummy coffee concoctions for a future post.

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