A Writer Needs a Community
Every aspiring writer and author needs a writers community for support, for comradery, for accountability to keep writing. Never give up, never surrender. Since the early days of OfficeXpats, not only have local business people found a supportive coworking community, but quite a number of artists and authors have also found a congenial place to be artful and writerly, whether casually or goal-focused. I'll share a bit of my story, but first, don't miss the December 1 opportunity to chat with other OfficeXpats authors and writers, and learn about a self-publishing platform from a local founder!
On the 17th of July 1999 I celebrated my first book signing event, the publication of my sci-fi novel KillWare as an ebook with VirtuaBooks (kdkragen.org/killware-in-the-press.html). In 2005 Archebooks published my second book Plagueman, historical fiction. By the summer of 2014 KillWare 3 and 4 had gone to press. There was always a local writers group in my acknowledgements.
July of 2008, I started my copywriting consulting business, KaveDragen Ink LLC. I joined the Bainbridge Island Chamber of Commerce, figuring that would help me feel like a “real business owner” doing “real business” – and it did! In January of 2009, a few local business owners and I started the Bainbridge Business Connection, a community support group (tag line, “We’re the other BBC”). Then in 2011 OfficeXpats Coworking was born, with their offices upstairs in the Bainbridge Pavilion. I was one of the first to join.
In 2013-14, OfficeXpats hosted a number of publishing workshops. The artists and authors community has grown from then on as an OfficeXpats member support group.
Today I help OfficeXpats host a weekly Wednesday-at-noon Writers & Authors online group, followed by a virtual writers sprint. On Mondays there is a full lineup of writer support events: Monday Morning Check-in at 9:30, an in-person sprint at 10:30, and an in-person writers group at noon. OfficeXpats has also hosted a number of Thursday afternoon member mingles featuring member authors. A growing dedicated bookshelf is also available for member-published works, fiction and nonfiction. Check out all these events here.
This year we all had the excitement of celebrating the publishing of Paula and Lorenz Eber's epic adventure "Breathtaking" about their around the world trip with their 11 and 13-year-old daughters on two tandem bikes! Paula has been sharing her progress of the past few years at our Monday Morning Check-ins.
From left, Lorenz Eber, Paula Holmes-Eber, and Leslie Schneider celebrate the delivery of the first copies of “Breathtaking.”
I am now one completed novel later (Space Leviathan) and one in process (KillWare 4: A Garbological Romance). I would like to offer a special thankyou to OfficeXpats for being my artist support community, my writers group, and at the top of my next acknowledgements page. I'll be at the Books and Authors Evening along with a few of my author buddies, ready to share what I know and get excited about what you are up to. Join me there.
by K. D. Kragen, helping guide the OfficeXpats writers and authors community, and author of The KillWare® Chronicles