“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” ~Margaret Mead, cultural anthropologist
Whether it’s Benjamin Franklin’s Junto, C. S. Lewis’s Inklings, John Wesley’s class meetings, or the Latin American base communities, one thing is clear. Join or start a group of people on a mission, and good things happen.
The mission in this case is nourishing creativity. In my last post I talked about why you need a group that nourishes your creativity. Now I want to offer practical steps for starting one.
Invite a group of friends to get together.
Give yourself permission to be selfish about whom you invite. Don’t invite people you think you should invite. Invite people you want to invite—people whose opinions you value, people doing creative things. Our group is around eight people, and that seems to work well.
Establish a rhythm and venue.
Our group meets once a month, from 7pm to 9pm, sometimes at a member’s home, sometimes at a pub or café.
Make it a social event with a twist.
Eat, drink, and be merry. Then get to work.
Establish a format.
Todd Henry recommends that each participant answer three questions:
- What’s inspiring you?
- What are you working on?
- What would you like prompting on?
It’s simple but powerful. We’re always marveling at how these three simple questions produce such rich interactions.
Use a timer.
We quickly discovered that if we don’t keep ourselves on a timer, some of us get left out. The timer gives each participant 10 to 15 minutes to share, and the group offers feedback after each share. We ask questions, suggest possibilities, add insights.
Every now and again, step it up a notch.
Next month our group is going to a retreat space for a weekend where we’ll devote time to individual work and group collaboration. Some will be there for the whole weekend, while others will come for part of it. We’re excited about it!
To find out why you need a group that nourishes your creativity, click here.
Are you part of a writers or creativity group? What have you found useful or not useful in these group settings? What format does your group use?
Chad,
I have been toying with (but not executing) the idea of starting a group like this for months. I think I get stuck in my own head in this crazy lone ranger mode when I’m working on a new album or designing a new intervention to use with my therapy clients. It feels like “If I don’t do it myself, it’s not mine and it doesn’t count.”
I am going to start that group today (one for therapist, one for songwriters) because of this post. I think it will do 2 things for me.
1. Resistance hates “we” – Sharing my creative anxiety, feelings of doubt and general misery with resistance will create a connection to other people through these emotions. I’ll start to feel the “we” of the group when i’m struggling and might not feel so alone.
2. Talking about your art, what inspires you, and what frustrates you can make you more mindful about the emotions surrounding your creative process. If you can name it, you can tame it.
Branden, This is awesome! PLEASE write back and let me know how it goes, okay? I think your two hopes are right on target and won’t be at all surprised if these things come to fruition for you. I’m excited for ya!
I love the three questions. Thanks for sharing the structure of your group. It is very helpful. The timer makes me laugh. When we were in youth ministry the timer was a very important component of small groups.
Ha! The group gives me a hard time about the timer sometimes, but we all know its purpose. It gives everyone a chance to share. Mind you, it may not be necessary to use the timer in the first meeting or two or three or ever, perhaps. But we’ve found it to be useful tool.
I’m sure the quite types (like myself) thank you for its presence 🙂
Love this, especially using a timer. Are you all pretty equal on the writing spectrum? Does that matter much?
It doesn’t for our group. We are not all writers. One of us is a musician, another an ad exec, etc.
Last year, a friend and I started a writers critique group. We wanted to focus on critiquing and made everything else secondary. One person, who desired a social time, never came back, but the rest continue to do so. They’re committed to the group and to encouraging each other with our writing. It’s a great group to hang out with.
Peter, thanks for writing in. You raise a point here about expectations. If the plan is to start a critique group and everyone’s on board with that, you’re good to go. If not, well, things can go wonky. Setting expectations from the beginning is important!