Carried over from my raising of this on the Paul Spragg memorial opportunity thread.
Who might be interested in joining a writers group for fun?
I’d be interested for sure 
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Could be interesting for sure
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Is this only for those wanting to submit for the PSMSTO or just a writing group in general? If the latter, I may be interested depending on the details.
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I had a general writers group in mind, not one specific to submissions to any particular competition, although I thought it might help those who want to work on stuff longer term, by having a regular focus.
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I’ll be interested too but less so if it means meeting people irl.
Too much scripting in my head, I probably wouldn’t attend.
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If we can do it online, then that’s fine
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This could be cool if we do it online
Always like dabbling in writing
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If it’s online, I’d be down to join.
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I can’t do IRL meets. It would be using a zoom call or whatever preferred platform the group has. This is the rough protocol I have in mind, which I’ve pinched from another online group I’ve used.
Every meeting is hosted by a different person in the group so that we all remain equal. The Host arranges the time and date of the meeting and will arrange the link for people to follow to get to the meet. They are also responsible for the writing prompt. We then follow a set of 15 minute sections:
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Introduction
Host welcomes everyone, we say our Hellos and maybe introduce ourselves. The host then explains the writing prompt, which could be a picture, a sound file, a phrase or a question or something else that’s designed to get people thinking. -
Writing time. The second 15 minutes is timed and we write in silence, mic’s muted.
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Sharing time. We each take 15 minutes, during which we read out what we’ve just written (NGL, this is a bit nerve wracking, but very worth it) or we share something else that we wrote at another time. After reading we can each give positive and supportive feedback and suggestions.
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once everyone has shared, we decide who will host the next meeting and when it will be
If there are four people attending, this protocol makes for a roughly 90 minute meeting. Any longer than this and things begin to get very tiring. You can just about squeeze five people into this format, but if you have six people involved, it’s best to break into two groups, although you can share a writing prompt between the two groups and use break out rooms.
The important thing is to stick to TARDISGuide ethos of being supportive, celebrating what works in people’s writing and making suggestions to help the writer decide how to make improvements. No criticism, judgement or negativity.
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Fifteen minutes to brainstorm and write sounds daunting. I’ve participated in another “quick write” challenge and they gave ten minutes for brainstorming and seventy minutes to write (broken into thirty-five minute chunks with a ten minute break in between). The goal was to write a completed piece within 100 minutes. The overarching prompt was also posted a few hours ahead of time (with the more specific iterations posted at challenge open) so you could cheat prepare ahead of time for the brainstorming phase.
I suppose in the group you’ve participated in before people are mainly writing pieces akin to drabbles (100-500 words)?
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Sounds like fun!!!
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This sounds fun! I’ve done things like this before, and it’s fun as an exercise if nothing else
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Yes it’s a short writing exercise. With longer pieces you really don’t have time to share, but you can always extend the prompt in the time between meetings. And there’s nothing to stop two or more meeting up between times to work on things together. View this as a starting point, not the end goal.
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Sounds good. It would be a nice exercise.
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Not that I have the time to be involved, can I just say that I love the fact our community has prompted this. Long may it last!
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Ooh sounds fun
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Excellent. This sounds like we can make a start on something. Perhaps we could start with a meeting early in June? We need to work out what days of the week work best for people and what times (including the time zone that you’re in) that you can make. I’m UK based and so am currently in BST (UTC+1). I think I’d prefer something during the day at the weekend, but can do other times with enough notice. We could meet on discord, but someone will have to teach me how to use it! I can use Zoom, but only have a free account, or I can set something up on Jitsi Meet, which doesn’t have the Zoom restrictions, but can be a little flaky.
Let me know your preferences and I’ll try to schedule something that most of us can make one way or another!
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I must say I am tempted by it, but I am not sure if I will be attending. That said, I am glad to see this being a Thing in this Community, for anybody participating, hope you enjoy!!
Kudos to @Mindfog for coming up with this Idea 
Hope all goes well!
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Another thing we could do in a more casual capacity is get the Sprint Bot on discord (don’t ask me how) - it’s a thing that times you for however long you like and is designed to help encourage you to get lots of writing done. I find it very effective in some of the groups I’m in, and it’s just nice to have someone to write with sometimes
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