Book Sanctuary

The process of writing can be challenging, especially for those of us who are budding writers yet to share our creations with the world. Personally, I have two dominant emotions when it comes to writing; a feeling of self-deprecation that tells me that the writing isn’t up to scratch, and the contrary desire to have it read by other people, to hear what they think about it. Which of these emotions takes control at any given time varies, but I am sure this affects plenty of budding writers, as surely I’m not the only one?

One change that I have made that is starting to help me with my writing is joining a Writer’s group. We meet weekly in Edinburgh and being amongst other writers who are supportive and honest with their opinions really helps. It is a great way to experience new writing every week and to make new friends, so I would encourage all to explore their local area and see if there is a writing group that they can join.

The benefits of being in a writing group got me thinking about ways to bring that group experience onto a website like Book Sanctuary. One area that we will explore is the ‘eZine’ section of the website, which will be high up our list of priorities once the Store is launched. The plan is for this to be updated monthly with everyone getting free access. The great thing about this area is that it should allow for greater interaction amongst users.  Each issue will be broken into individual articles and we will all be able to rate, comment, and share each article through social networks such as Facebook. There are other areas of the site that let you do this, but the eZine section will have its own design and integrate these elements together.

I’d personally like the eZine to become our online Book Sanctuary Writing Club. It can be an area where we all share short excerpts of ongoing work, short stories, poems, and general pieces of writing that have come together but will not necessarily become a part of a novel, poetry of short story collection. We may introduce themes each month to focus our writing minds, as this helps our group in Edinburgh to find ideas to share. The great thing about a writing group is that it helps you bring together large projects such as novels, while providing the discipline to try and write a short piece every week. These weekly bites of our writing deserve a home as much as our finished novels, so perhaps the eZine can provide that home.

Being in a writing group has helped me re-discover my zest for writing. If we can create an online environment where we can replicate that benefit for a wider audience, Book Sanctuary will have achieved one of its key goals; to get people writing.

Until next time,

Thomas