So many writers struggle with writing consistently and showing up every day to do the work. We procrastinate, we get afraid, and we invent reasons not to write (toilet scrubbing, anyone?). As Steven Pressfield says, “It’s not the writing part that’s hard. What’s hard is sitting down to write.” The Circle provides motivation to show up and do the hard work of sitting down to write, because you know that if you don’t check in at the end of the day on the site, the other writers in your small group and your coach will notice and miss you. You’ll get encouragement from them on the days when it’s hard and they’ll cheer you on when it’s easier.

Having that kind of support reduces isolation, which is a huge issue for so many writers, and just seeing all your little green check marks on your progress page for every day you write is so satisfying too. We also teach the idea of writing for very small increments of time — with an inverse correlation between how stuck you feel and the number of minutes you spend writing. In other words, the more blocked you feel, the less you’ll want to aim for each day, at least to start. This pattern of brief writing sessions sets you up to: 1) prevent binge-writing and burn out, 2) feel a daily sense of accomplishment, and 3) build a stronger sense of self-confidence, trust, and belief in yourself that you can and will do the work. All of these help you keep going in the long term.

My team of coaches and I don’t discuss your progress with anyone outside the Called to Write Coaching Circle. And we make a point to provide guidelines for other participants around confidentiality. We are also willing to attempt to assign you to different groups than with people you know outside the Circle, subject to availability of space in other groups. For some people, this is not a concern, but for others it can be important.

Here’s why: In order to create a truly supportive atmosphere inside the Circle, we ask everyone to be real about their challenges and their successes. Occasionally participants — particularly published authors or others who have a public following — feel uncomfortable revealing their deeper challenges in the company of people they know outside the site who might be fans, for instance. If this is true for you, we will be happy to assign you to a group where you don’t know other participants. You are also more than welcome to participate with a pseudonym and remain anonymous.

I’m not a kick-ass, militant coach. That’s what some people think of when they think of accountability. The way we think of accountability in the Called to Write Coaching Circle is that you are being accountable to yourself — doing what you said you were going to do — when you report back to us in the Circle on the site. And we’ll be there to cheer you on for every day you manage it, on the days when it’s hard, and on the days when you don’t pull it off.

The Circle is a guilt-free zone that helps you see what’s working and what’s not about your writing habit so you can make adjustments that work. Judgement, harsh accountability, and guilt don’t foster the kind of environment we strive for in the Circle. Instead we focus on noticing, paying attention, experimenting, and keeping an eye out for typical red flags (like binge writing or disappearing) so we can help you stay on track with your commitment to yourself. That’s what this kind of accountability is all about. Nobody is going to yell at you here. :)

One of the bigger obstacles many writers face is coming up with the time to write. Usually what drives that lack of time is not actually being too busy, but being afraid. We tend to stay too busy when we are afraid to face, tackle, and achieve our biggest dreams. So it turns out for most people that when they commit to writing regularly and reporting in about it, it ends up feeling like a critical part of your day that helps you stay in touch with who you are as a writer. It’s more like a life preserver than another obligation. And — we also make a point to encourage you to keep your participation on the site efficient and focused. We don’t want it to ever feel like a burden in any way. Usually if that’s happening for you, it’s a sign that you’re doing too much for other participants and need to scale back. Participation on the site tends to take 5 to 15 minutes per day.

One significant — and important — distinction from other writing groups is that we do not do critiques of each other’s work in the Circle. We focus on helping writers work out the kinks in their writing habits, and very often those kinks are the result of difficult past critiques that have become creative wounds, which in turn have become blocks. It’s so important to us to keep a safe space where we can break down those blocks, heal those wounds, and get back to the habit of consistent writing, that we’ve made the decision not to exchange critiques of our work. That said, we strongly support writers to get useful and constructive feedback from outside sources when their work reaches the appropriate stage. Critiquing is a highly useful and separate tool we all need to make our writing the best it can possibly be.

The biggest adjustment for most writers is adjusting your mindset. When you start writing or want to write, you tend to have a lot of limiting beliefs that get in the way of your actually doing the work. For instance, many writers believe they have to have long blocks of time before they can write. Or that they have to have the right space to work in, the right computer, more money, a better job, quieter kids, or a more understanding spouse. Or that they have to be in the right mood to write. None of those things are true. In fact, they are just stories we tell ourselves because we are afraid to write and afraid to fail. The work is learning to show up and write, every day, no matter what. Along those same lines, our writers also have to persuade themselves to give up binge-writing in mad, rushed, deadline-meeting frenzies and instead set themselves up for the long haul — like a running a marathon, we have to learn to pace ourselves. The Circle provides evidence you need to help make these mindset shifts.

Writer’s block, procrastination, resistance, isolation, poor planning, self-doubt, and self-sabotage are the first problems that come to mind. The beauty of this system is that it has far-reaching positive impacts in other areas of life as well. We see our writers also making positive changes in around exercise, organization, and time management, for instance.

The focus of the Called to Write Coaching Circle is on your writing habit, not the craft of writing. It’s not that we believe that learning writing skills is not important, far be that from the truth. No, in fact, we find that writers love having the Circle support in conjunction with their writing classes, because the Circle helps them ensure they actually do the work for the classes they’re in, which means they truly integrate and benefit from their classes in a more profound way.

And although writer’s groups can help with accountability, because usually there’s an expectation that everyone will bring pages to the next meeting, groups tend to meet only every few weeks or so. The key difference with the Circle is that it is based on daily accountability. This means that every single day you’re supported to show up and do the writing, which helps you build a long-term, sustainable writing habit.

Although we WILL celebrate your successes with you, the Circle is about so much more than accountability and cheerleading. Your coach will provide you with daily personalized coaching in response to your specific writing challenges. We’ll know what you’re going through and be there to help you deal with life’s ups and downs as you keep on writing day in and day out. This is what sets us apart from other writing groups and accountability programs.

I’ve been running the Called to Write Coaching Circle since September of 2011 when we ran our first beta test group. Since that time, we’ve seen novels, ebooks, screenplays, poems, songs, memoirs, and non-fiction books completed. It’s been amazing. Over time, we’ve added a few bells and whistles to make the program stronger, like the regular group writing sprints, and the option to upgrade and add private coaching support. We’ve also split from one group into two, then into four, and then into six, and we expect to keep adding more groups and coaches as demand increases.

One delightful aspect of the Called to Write Coaching Circle is that you can interact with writers all over the globe on your own schedule in your own time zone. It’s thrilling to wake up and find notes from your group members celebrating and commenting on your progress. The only truly time-sensitive, scheduled events for the Circle (like the live welcome and coaching calls) tend to be held mid-day Pacific Time so that participants in Hawaii, New York, the UK, Europe, and Australia can still participate. And, if that schedule doesn’t work for you, we record all the live sessions and make the recordings available on the site. We also have fairly active forums so you can ask questions and get them answered, even if you can’t attend the live calls.