Literary Party in Upstate New York

Today’s post, about building community by hosting a literary party, is written by Robin Flanigan of the Kinetic Pen in Upstate New York.

There is something magical about a roomful of writers. A houseful of writers? I’m still trying to come up with an adjective worthy enough for that.

Every January, with my friend and graphic designer Eric Wilder, I co-host a “Literary Party” in my home. We wrapped up this year’s event more than a week ago and I’m still receiving emails from guests expressing gratitude for being invited and sharing stories about who they met and why it mattered. The synergy, the networking, the new friendships — it all matters, because we as writers believe that what we do is meaningful.

I live in Upstate New York, and one woman flies in from Chicago to attend. Another takes the train from Hyde Park, near New York City. As word has spread, the crowd grows each year and it looks like we may have guests from Boston and Pennsylvania at next year’s party.

Connecting Through Social Media

It all started through Twitter. That’s where I met Eric and every other person I referenced above. Yes, writing can be an isolating hobby (and that’s the attraction for some of us), but social media helps orchestrate connections to people we can then make efforts to meet in person. I’ve done that a couple times, once with a woman who invited me to her summer lake house, another with a woman I invited over for lunch when she was in the area from the Catskills. It was never difficult to keep the conversation going. Writing is a shared passion that draws us to each other quickly.

The Benefits of a Literary Party

Because of the Literary Party, one woman learned last year that the college where she taught as an adjunct professor would foot the bill for her to attend a national writing conference. Another woman met a man she’d seen read his poetry a few months earlier; she told him he inspired her to start writing poems again after a 25-year hiatus. I came away from this year’s party with three lunch dates (all with writers I know only professionally, not personally) and the possibility of a new client.

I encourage all writers, wherever you live, to consider hosting a Literary Party. It’s easy: We make ours invitation-only, using snail-mailed paper invites, and provide food, wine and cocktails. We also play chill music and make sure the inglenook (the nook by the fireplace) stays warm.

Feedback

Here are some of the beautiful things people are saying in their thank-you notes:

“It was an impressive gathering of great minds.”

“I felt a connection with you and imagine there would be fun ways to collaborate.”

“Though we come from such different backgrounds and have such different stories to tell, it was incredible to sit down with a total stranger and realize we had both, independently, spent so much time thinking about and generating ideas around on the same topic…That was the theme of the night: connecting with SO MANY other idea makers and realizing how much energy and possibility there was in such a relatively small gathering.”

These are the kind of people I want in my life, and it is a joy to be able to feel part of such a close community, a community that widens every year but clings to a common purpose: to put down words, and to struggle to find the right ones.

Robin L. Flanigan launched a writing career in the early ‘90s while living in a graveyard, and has worked in newsrooms, winning several national reporting awards, for eleven years. She now freelances for magazines and newspapers, and has had essays published in various anthologies. She is @thekineticpen on Twitter, and you can read some of her work at www.thekineticpen.com.