Introducing the Guild!

(And a hint about our first collaborative project!)

As the “Momerator” (Mom + Moderator) of the Habit, Student Edition online writing community, I get to read a lot of high quality writing on a daily basis, all written by writers in their teens and early twenties. And when I tell people that I’m blessed each and every day by my work, I’m not in any way exaggerating. I speak the truth, verily. :)

These young writers are some of the kindest, most encouraging people I’ve ever known—it’s been amazing to witness them growing in their friendships as well as in their writing over the past four years.

And teaching and mentoring young people with a deep love for what they do is incredibly rewarding. The vast majority of our writers are passionate about writing—and specifically, about creating the good and beautiful stories that the world needs more of.

But how does a writer get their book out into the world when there are over a hundred million books in print? It’s a daunting prospect, and it’s easy to become discouraged, especially since many writers quite naturally assume they’re competing against one another. After all, there are only a few major publishers, and you have to somehow stand out as “better than the rest” in order to even get your book noticed, right?

If you listen to the “experts”, you must become a marketing machine, amassing thousands of followers to even be considered by a publisher. That doesn’t leave much time to promote your fellow writers’ work, but the standard advice is to stay firmly focused on your goals and your own work, or those other writers will get to the finish line first.

I’ve seen this viewpoint pushed on author blogs, writing sites, social media—and especially in other writing communities for teens who dream of becoming published authors.

Our student community follows a very different philosophy. To quote Habit founder, author Jonathan Rogers, “everyone who is putting good and beautiful work into the world is your ally”. It’s a refreshing and much needed sentiment in this stressful, every-man-for-himself world.

Our student writers are very much in the habit of cheering each other on, giving them the courage they need to keep writing and actually finish that book or story. Not all of our writers have a goal of publishing, but finishing a manuscript is certainly a pivotal step on the road to becoming a published author.

Now, of course encouragement alone won’t get anyone published. But despite what the “experts” may say, neither will focusing exclusively on your own writing in a competitive, build-your-author-brand-faster-than-everyone-else kind of way.

The truth is, there is no secret recipe to getting published—other than hard work, perseverance, interesting ideas, writing talent, and a whole lot of being in the right place at the right time (aka luck). “Anyone who says differently is selling something.” (Thank you, Westley!)

A little over a year ago, I had what can only be described as a crazy idea. What if I were to create a spinoff group specifically focused on learning about all aspects of publishing, with the goal of everyone working together to get their books and stories out into the world? I invited thirty-five gifted writers to join, many of them also talented artists and songwriters, and laid out my vision.

There would be no competition, no race to get published sooner than everyone else, and no bragging rights. Instead, there would be friendship, encouragement, and collaboration. I envisioned everyone sharing their knowledge and resources, working together to workshop and edit each other’s writing, collaborations between writers and artists on book covers and illustrations, and a collective effort to find publishing opportunities and promote one another’s work.

And thus was born the S.E. Collaborative Guild of Authors and Artists, and a year later, I couldn’t be prouder of this group of young authors, illustrators, and songwriters. We have one young author who just published her third book, and several others with completed, polished manuscripts looking to publish in the near future. We’ve had multiple writers submit short stories and poetry to contests and have their work recognized and published.

And we’re well on our way to finishing our first big Guild publishing project, which I’ll post more about soon! (Hint: it’s fully collaborative, has given our writers a ton of writing and editing experience, and features twenty-six authors and eight artists.)

When writers see one another as companions rather than competitors, the dream of publication suddenly feels much more real and reachable. It turns out that it’s not a race, it’s a journey—and there’s room for all on the road and at the destination.