How We Started the Olive Tree Writing Club

The Season 8 calendar is now live!

July 2nd, 2022. Flight from Toronto to New York City.

It’s July 2022. I’ve just landed in LGA from Toronto. One small bag and one big suitcase in hand with everything I own.

Writing’s a big part of my life. What better way to level up than to move to the greatest writing city in the world?

In that first month, I made it my mission to find a writing community.

I remember attending a writer’s meetup in Prospect Park. I arrived right on time. Around twenty people were sitting in a large circle. In the middle, there was a smaller group - an inner circle of five - talkative, laughing, clearly familiar with one another. It turned out they were the organizers.

I took a seat on the outside and realized that nearly everyone there was new too. We sat on the outer ring, literally on the outside looking in. No one made any effort to welcome us. We didn’t even start until an hour after the scheduled time.

I went to a few other writing meetups, but none of them hit.

Part of me felt I could do better.

Then my friend sent me a tweet about a new writing club starting in New York. The tweet had gone viral, and the turnout looked promising.

The first meetup was on a Sunday morning in Boerum Hill, hosted in a beautiful white home which I think belonged to a crypto millionaire. There were fruit and lox bagels on the table, and the place was already buzzing when I arrived.

I met a bunch of inspiring writers there. Some were already published. Some with sizeable audiences.

That’s where I met Dmitri. We clicked immediately. We talked about our current writing projects and our ambitions. Before the event was over, we traded contact information.

I left feeling energized. For the first time since moving to the city, I found a community that I wanted to commit to.

Dmitri and I kept in touch.

He invited me to a small, informal gathering with a few of his writing friends. They met every Thursday evening at the Olive Tree Cafe in Greenwich Village.

I went the following week. We ordered hummus and market vegetables, our go-to order from then on. We gave feedback on a friend’s draft, talked about some pieces of writing that inspired us lately, and played a writing game.

We hung out until late in the evening.

A few weeks passed after the kickoff event in Boerum Hill. There was no follow-up.

I reached out to the organizer to ask if another session was coming up. Nothing. I even offered to help organize. Still nothing.

Dmitri texted me: Has the Boerum Hill writing club been defunct for the past month? Did you hear anything about another meeting?

Nah, I replied. Complete radio silence. I’m assuming it’s dead.

Well, let’s catch up this weekend now that I’m back.

The next week, Dmitri and I met at Glur, a Thai restaurant in the West Village. I ordered shrimp pad thai. He ordered pineapple fried rice.

“Such a shame it fizzled out so quickly,” he said.

“I know,” I replied. “It had so much potential.”

I told him about all the writing groups I’d tried, and how I still couldn’t find the right fit. He said he’d had a similar experience.

“What if we started our own?” I said.

He didn’t hesitate.

“Let’s do it,” he said.

“Let’s start a writing club.”

Glur Thai on October 23rd, 2022.

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The Season 8 calendar is Live!

I recently discovered there’s a “select all” option to invite everyone who’s attended any of our past events. I used to invite people one by one. Last Monday, I sent a single bulk invite to our list of 500+ people, and we sold out in <30 minutes.

We kicked off Season 8 this past Sunday with a packed house at Verci, and as always, it was so much fun.

This coming Sunday is currently sold out, but I’ll open up a few more spots for that session. There are still plenty of spots available for future sessions, so sign up soon!

<3 James Q from the Olive Tree Writing Club