A New Social Network for Writers

Writing is a lonely craft. To alleviate the isolation, writers venture out to coffeeshops, form writing groups, and attend conferences. But digital tools have also cropped up to help.

myWriteClub is one such tool.  The site is a social network that enables writers to connect, but the purpose is more than simply idle chat (as much as we writers need idle chat with actual living human beings).

The site lets users set and track writing goals, then share progress on those goals with friends for encouraging comments (or kicks in the pants). Goals can also be kept private.

The site launched at the beginning of the year. I discovered it soon after via Twitter and have been using it faithfully since. I was so intrigued with myWriteClub that I contacted founder Andrew Olson to learn more.

Can you summarize the genesis of the idea for myWriteClub?

Sure. I built it to replace newyearnewbook.wordpress.com. My wife Kayla started that with her friends, to keep track of their [writing] goal progress. They used the #NYNB hashtag to check in on Twitter. Whenever anyone checked in, Kayla had to manually update each progress bar herself. I decided to save her some time by building a website where each person can update their own progress bars.

What a great gift. What’s your day job? And do you write too?

Well, I also love to code, so it’s been fun for me. I work at a software company in the restaurant industry. So I write code all day and then I write some more at night for myWriteClub.

I actually attempted NaNoWriMo once. It lasted a couple days. Other than that, no. I probably write more computer code than English.

So did your wife’s input help inform the development of the site, and if so, how?

Absolutely. Kayla has helped me a ton, particularly with the aesthetics and the usability of the site. I show new changes to her before I publish them, to make sure they’re clear and easy to use.

I came up with most of the features and the structure. Kayla and others have helped me fine-tune.

With so many social networks out there, there’s a lot to draw inspiration from. So it’s been interesting to figure out how to apply those ideas to this specific site.

Can you walk us through the features you have now?

Sure. Basically there are two aspects of the site: (1) Track your goals, and (2) share with your friends. You can do either or both.

I tried to keep the goal setup and tracking as simple as possible. You just choose how you want to measure your goal (words, pages, chapters, etc.), how much you want to do, and when you want to be finished.

You can set up as many goals as you like, and they can be private or visible to other mWC users.

So as you make progress, a simple line chart updates and shows you graphically what you need to do to reach your goal. If your line gets too steep, you either need to pick up the pace or move your deadline.

So now for the social part. If your goals aren’t marked private, then other people can follow along with your progress updates. Whenever you update your progress, the site will notify your friends via email (email settings are customizable). Each goal has a comments section for your friends to post encouraging comments and keep you motivated.

Yes, that motivation is great. It definitely helps! So can you talk about any of the features you’re working on now or want to add in the future?

One thing I’m considering is a way to allow you to share your progress with people who don’t have a myWriteClub account. A couple people have asked about that.

I’d also like to add some sort of reward system, like earning gold stars or cupcakes (or something).

Also, [I’m] brainstorming ideas for ways to track consistent effort put in. For example, maybe you worked for three hours on something but don’t have any concrete progress to log on your chart. It would be nice to have a way to show that.

The feature I’m most excited about is live word sprints. Basically you and your friends will all go to the same webpage and start typing away on your projects (but only you can see the actual words you’re typing; likewise, you won’t be able to see your friends’ actual words). Each person can see everyone else’s word counts in real time, to give you a sense of camaraderie as you work together.

Great! So do you feel comfortable sharing how many users you have at this point?

Sure! We passed the 200-user mark last week.

And you officially launched the beta when again?

January 2nd

How has word gotten out? And what have reactions been?

There are about 15 participants in Kayla’s NYNB group, and they signed up pretty quickly. From there, word has spread through Twitter and Facebook, friends encouraging their friends to sign up, so that they’ll have people to track goals with.

I’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback emails, and several great suggestions for improvements. I thought it was fun to write the website, but now that people are actually using it, it’s a blast!

What do you hope it will accomplish overall?

It seems that writing can be a solitary endeavor that requires a lot of discipline that can be hard to maintain on your own. I hope myWriteClub will make the process more enjoyable on both fronts.

And when will it be out of beta, do you expect? Any other plans for a “big launch”?

I don’t have a specific launch date yet. I have some things I need to tidy up before the beta ends. It’s also a matter of deciding which features to implement in the beta phase and which to save for later. But at some point, there will be a launch. Whether it’s big or not…we’ll see.

Oh, and I forgot to mention one of the upcoming features: groups! I’m not set on the details yet, but it would be a way to organize your friends, making your update feed more manageable as your list of friends grows.

Makes sense. Any last thoughts?

Just that I’m looking forward to watching it grow and helping writers reach their goals!

More:

• Sign up for myWriteClub
• Request updates about the site
• Follow myWriteClub on Twitter and Facebook
• Send comments and suggestions to Olson