Writing is Social
Recap of the first Substack writers' dinner and why writing isn’t a solitary activity
Hi friends!
Last Wednesday, I hosted the first OTWC Substack writers dinner last night with Josh Kim, Pam, and Sneha Rampalli.
The question was what’s your biggest writing challenge? We talked about consistency, writing routines, oversharing on the internet and where do you set that line, dealing with haters, classics vs content, and more.
The plan is to host these every month! I’m thinking of curating them based on either medium or topic. For example, Community Organizers w/ Substacks, Fashion Substackers, novelists, etc.
Writing is Social
After last Sunday’s OTWC session, I caught up with my friend K and asked her how her first session went.
She loved it. Not only was it productive, but the small group conversations were interesting. She shared her piece about “frictionmaxxing,” how technology, and especially AI, has made things too easy, and how there’s utility in that friction. People in her group started to chime in: Have you thought about this angle? Here’s a personal story I have around that. I actually wrote about something similar years ago. It was good feedback; not only did the idea resonate, but she came away with new threads to pull on.
There’s this stereotypical image of writing as a solitary activity. I disagree.
Sure, the act of sitting down and putting words to the page requires focus and solitude. But then you share these ideas with other people. You explain it to them. While explaining, you see what excites you and where your gaps are. You notice their reactions; are they interested or are they bored? They ask questions and poke holes in your idea. This is why we have small-group shares at the end of each session.
I like to say that conversation expands. But writing distills. Both are necessary in the creative process.
Upcoming Events
📚Reading for Writers: Joan Didion & Virginia Woolf
Thursday, May 14th 7pm-830pm | Nolita
✍️ OTWC Spring ‘26: Part V
Sunday May 10th 10am-1230pm | Verci Flatiron
✍️ OTWC Comes to Tribeca II
Tuesday May 19th 6:30pm-9pm | Fabrik NYC
✍️ OTWC Comes to Williamsburg II
Wednesday May 27th 7pm-10pm | Mya Cafe
A Brief Parting Question
Do you listen to music when you write? If so, what do you listen to?
Before, I used to write to jazz or Spotify’s Deep Focus playlist. Lately, I’ve been writing in silence. When I write, I want to access my deepest, purest thoughts, and I find that music taints that access.
That said, music does help me evoke an emotion or a memory. When I wrote about my listening bar birthday party for my latest personal Substack piece, my friend Max played this one nostalgic city pop song that captured exactly the feeling I was after. I had it on repeat the entire time I was writing.
Hit reply to this email or comment below on Substack to share any thoughts or just to say hi. I’d love to hear from you.
<3 James Q
Yes!!! I really liked the graphic of how conversation expands and writings distills, it helped me understand that push and pull you're talking about between solitary work and social work in writing. Love the idea of the dinners too
i love this! conversation has only enriched the writing process for me each and every time