Tag Archives: Twitter

Spreadsheet email (Photo credit: Christopher S. Penn)

Last night, on Twitter (follow me @PhilippaWrites), I got into an interesting conversation with @thewritesprite. She followed me, and I told her that I liked her username. She joked about how difficult it had been to choose one, and we started to talk about how, despite writing for other people for a living, writing for ourselves can sometimes be hard.

There are, of course, other times when another writer’s input can be very valuable – for instance it is nigh on impossible to proofread your own work. You are too involved with the text and it often takes a fresh pair of eyes to spot mistakes. And sometimes a writer can craft a catchier Twitter bio about somebody else than they can about themselves.

We talked about how great it would be if there was a way for writers to help each other out in these circumstances. My imagination took flight and now the Writers Helping Writers Collective exists.

The way it works is this:

1. A writer joins the Writers Helping Writers Collective google group.
2. They then have access to the WHWC spreadsheet.
3. If a writer needs help with something, they fill in 4 columns of simple information in the spreadsheet.
4. They then post about this to the google group (by email or on the site).
5. Another writer, who wants to help out, goes to the spreadsheet and fills in 4 more columns of simple information.
6. They then email the original poster directly, and the help happens.

It’s that simple. Members are asked to help out another member before asking for help themselves, although while the collective is establishing itself this won’t be enforced too strongly, because most members will be new. Overall, members are asked to help one or two people for every help request they submit.

Are you a writer who wants to join a new, exciting community? Are you aware that there are some tasks that you struggle to do on your own website? Do you want to offer help to fellow writers on small, manageable tasks?

Join the Writers Helping Writers Collective now and help to build a vibrant, co-operative community for writers online.