Bri CastelliniFebruary 19, 2026

How I’ve Written 8 Manuscripts in 4 Years With One Secret Weapon

I’ve finished eight romance novel manuscripts (ranging from 68k-115k words per book) since 2022, and there are two primary things I can attribute that success to:

  1. My pathological need for challenges with daily data and badges to earn (see: the now-defunct November National Novel Writing Month challenge)
  2. Building routines and accountability with regular writing community co-working sessions

We’ll get to my obsessive need to see my progress in spreadsheet/Girl Scout badge format another time, but for now, let’s talk building a co-working writing community.

Now, of course, this concept is nothing new- we wrote about it last week! If you’ve ever met a friend at a cafe with your laptop or notebook to work separately together, you’ve built a micro-writing community. But the older I get, and the more community I build outside of my immediate geographical area, the harder it’s become to gather people for the purposes of productivity.

Would you believe my friends prioritize “just having a nice conversation” or “doing something non-monetizeable” when they make plans with me?!

But it’s rare I came out of a “nice conversation” with a fellow writer friend of mine without both bemoaning our lack of progress on a passion project, or a lackluster showing for a New Years Resolution about writing more regularly, or just generally making time for being creative amidst life, family, work, etc.

These days, not a week goes by that I don’t get at least an hour or two of writing done, and usually closer to five, and that’s with a bustling freelance schedule, a full plate of family obligations, a digital marketing class I’m taking in the evening, and a very needy dog (scroll to the bottom for a picture- she’s worth it!). Soon I’ll guarantee an extra hour per week… and perhaps you will too?

How?!

Creative co-working with a writing community, friend! Here’s the 2 vital aspects, to my mind:

  1. A reliable friend: there are many creative people in my life who I love dearly and who I would not invite to a creative co-working community, because we do not have the same work style, or because they can’t commit to a schedule, or because they can’t be in a cafe or a Zoom without gabbing the whole time.
  2. A regular, repeatable schedule: showing up at the same time on the same day every week, ideally, but at the very least, at the end of each session, schedule the next one.

That’s it! Now, because I’m me, I like to make things more structured, but as a starting point, this is just about accountability, and having a buddy to force you to show up.

Need a buddy? Here we are! We host community writing hour every other Thursday at 4pm PST/ 7pm EST over on YouTube. Won’t you join us?

How we run a writing community co-working session

  • 10 minutes: catching up, checking in, general chatting, info-dumping on my latest romance novel fixation
  • 5 minutes: focusing in on what our writing challenges have been recently and what we want to work on for this session
  • 20 minutes: focused silent writing time
  • 5 minutes: break! Chat about how it went, ask for advice, share a favorite line, grab a snack, go to the bathroom, etc
  • 20 minutes: focused silent writing time
  • 5 minutes: break!
  • 20 minutes: focused silent writing time
  • 5-10 minutes: check in on how it went, make plans for next session

The simplest version I do with some friends, though, is merely:

  • 10-15 minutes: catching up, checking in, general chatting
  • 5 minutes: focusing in on what our writing challenges have been recently and what we want to work on for this session
  • ~1 hour: focused writing time (or however long we set aside)
  • 5-10 minutes: check in on how it went, make plans for next session

I prefer the mini sprints to one long session, for my neurospicy brain as well as because I’ve noticed I get more productive the less time I have to be productive within. It’s the same reason I can write 60k words in a month when I’m being externally challenged to do so, but without that framework I struggle to write 5k in the same amount of time.

The other benefit is that mini-sprints allow for me to shift my focus to different elements of my process rather than banging my head against a single wall the whole time. More on that next week, though.

Ultimately, it’s entirely up to you what your brain and working style comes up with- as long as it’s repeatable, sustainable, and working, good on ya!

Also, taking regular breaks while working/studying is apparently “good for you” or whatever.

The benefits of creative co-working

  1. Building routine. I’ll be honest: last year, there were several sessions I did with my Monday friend (my friend I write with on Mondays) where writing… did not get done. However, unless we had to cancel due to scheduling conflicts, we showed up week after week regardless. This meant our standing meeting didn’t slip away, we didn’t get into the habit of making other plans, and we trained our brains to show up and sit in place once a week with the intention, even if we didn’t always succeed in execution, of writing.
  2. Priming yourself for creativity. When I know, because of my routine, that I’m writing with someone that day, you know what I’m doing up until I show up? Thinking about writing! About what I specifically plan to write that day, about a challenge I’m having with my latest project, about the world I’m going to spend time in. That anticipation is a vital part of the writing process, and it’s part of the process we don’t get if we don’t have an expectation of being creatively productive that day
  3. Building community. Not only is it easier to be accountable when someone else is watching, but writing novels can often be a solitary pursuit in ways that don’t always serve us creatively. Surrounding yourself with other writers is incredibly important for solidarity, for feedback, hell, for sanity! Not to mention, now you have someone to practice your pitch to, or ask for brainstorming support when you need it, or to brag about inventing the concept of “MSG cum” for your new fated mates alien sci-fi romance (don’t ask) (unless you REALLY want to know)

Sold? Maybe you’d like to join us for Writing Community Hour over on The Rogue MFA YouTube channel every other Thursday evening at 4pm PST/ 7pm EST. The full calendar of dates is on our Community page.  Subscribe to get notified, and if you’re even a little bit interested, please fill out our quick survey so we can expand these in the future with you in mind.

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Kelly ChastainFebruary 12, 2026

Writing Alone is Overrated. An Accountability Group Takes it to the Next Level.

Sometimes wrangling the people in our lives to help us with accountability isn’t an option. We either can’t find the type of people we need, or we need steel-plated boundaries with the ones we have. Exhausting.

Good news! Not all is lost. Let’s go outside of our hometown and look at some of the most helpful accountability tools available. And who can help most? Strangers on the Internet.

Sprints

There are a few different types, but the gist is the same. You sit down and you write for a specific amount of time with no distractions or editing. Just writing as many words as you can.

  • Group or Community Sprints – These happen in real life and on the internet. They were a big part of the NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) machine, and the added dose of competition never hurt. Usually, these took place in regional hubs and meetups. You can still find group writing sessions and sprints in local creative spaces like community centers, bookstores, and libraries.
  • Solo Sprints – Folks who sprint on their own tend to use the pomodora method. 25 minutes of keyboard mayhem, followed by a 5 minute break. After 3 or 4 cycles, they take a 30 minute breather.

Project-Based Groups With a Targeted End Goal

The most famous of these before their scandalous fiery end was NaNoWriMo. The idea was to write a novel (or 50k words) in a single month (November). There were stats, badges, word trackers, and a lot of encouragement around. Bri was in HEAVEN watching that little graph chart up.

  • If you’re into the gamification aspect of NaNo, Trackbear, is a way to track your writing progress and customize your writing goals. And you can also use a good, old-fashioned spreadsheet.
  • Groups like NaNoEdMo (National Novel Editing Month) still exist, and can be a great way to find accountability for a specific project.
  • Bri and her romance writer’s group do RoWritMo (Romance Writing Month) every November, with custom-designed, romance-themed badges for progress and milestones. They’re always open for new challengers to join!

Contests

There’s nothing like cash prizes and a deadline to keep you in the chair.

  • Reedsy posts a prompt every Friday, and writers submit their story by the following Monday for the chance to win $250. If you’re looking for a way to sit down and write anything, this is a great strategy.
  • If you need a little more time, but still like the structure, several literary magazines have contests with cash prizes and publication attached. The competition guidelines are typically published months in advance and let writers know the theme or craft-based parameters.

Online Writing Communities

We think the best one is ours, The Rogue Writing Community Hour over on The Rogue MFA YouTube channel every other Thursday evening at 4pm PST/ 7pm EST. The full calendar of dates is on our Community page. 

We’re curious! What does your ideal community look like? We’d love to hear from you so we can make ours even better. The survey takes 2 minutes, and after telling us what to do, you’ll be heady with power. Muahh! Thanks in advance, truly.

My Ideal Community

Whether you find accountability and community among friends, or join a larger collective online, we’re stoked that you’re taking your work seriously.

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Kelly ChastainFebruary 5, 2026

Stop Waiting to Be Invited In and Build A Writing Accountability Group Yourself

Being a writer is one of the best/worst things to ever happen to us. The thrill of free drafting, finishing a project, or submitting work to a magazine is equal parts nerve-racking and satisfying. But keeping ourselves accountable to our writing practice can be one of the biggest hurdles.

You have amazing ideas, all playing like a film in your mind, but getting them onto paper? Well, sometimes it takes more than cajoling. It takes a writing community, where creative co-working and accountability are baked in.

The accountability aspects of a Writing Community are the writer’s equivalent to body-doubling for ADHDers. We hang out and complete our tasks, separately but together. It works because other people in the group are also counting on us. We can be good at letting ourselves down, but we don’t do that to our friends. All of a sudden your motivation to get work done hits a new high.

Your Friends

You probably know some writers already because we’re moths to a flame, and we can’t help but find each other in the wild. You might already be encouraging each other, and listening to their plot hole woes. You may have gone to college with them. This is the perfect person to ask to form a writing community.

Let them know that you’re trying to finish a project, or that you’d simply like to write more consistently, and see where you have time in you schedules to do that together. Writers very rarely say no to scheduled writing time.

Don’t have any writer friends?

Add Writer to Your Identity

This doesn’t mean you need to slap it to your social profiles or your LinkedIn bio (do people still use that site?). And if saying, “I’m a writer” makes you feel like an imposter, there’s always this classic, deployed during lunch in the break room. “This weekend I did some creative writing.” Then see who else nods along.

Because the thing about creative writers is that we don’t just like it. We freaking LOVE it. And as soon as you out yourself, the folks around you who also have a mountain of journals littered with dialog scraps and half-baked character sketches, are going to come forward like they’ve been summoned by an oracle.

Odds are, they’d like to have more community, and especially accountability, for their work too, or they’re already in a group and might invite you to join. You win either way. Drop the hints, and not just at work. With the folks you’ve befriended at the gym, the coffee shop regulars, the parents at school pick up and drop off, and the people you see consistently.

Mentors

If no one raises their hand about creative writing, you have people in your life who know other creative writers. I love to introduce my friend circles to one another instead of keeping them in their separate camps. We’re all friends for a reason: they’re cool and we have shared interests. If there’s overlap, I instinctively want them to connect.

Start talking to people in your life who you consider mentors, even if you don’t think they could possibly help you. The sheer range of interests among my friend groups is mind boggling, and it’s probably true for your friend groups too. So…

Make it known that you’re looking to find or start a writing community.

Other Artists

Now if all else fails and you don’t have any writers in your general vicinity, I know you have artists. Crafters, knitters, scrap-bookers, clay earring makers. Needing dedicated time to create isn’t exclusive to literary arts. It’s a common phenomenon in the creative community at large, and you can use that to your advantage.

Of course it’s ideal to find a writing community or a group that’s story centered. But it isn’t required. Your friend who’s trying desperately to finish crocheting that damn baby blanket before her little niece has a baby of her own, would love it if you said, “We’re setting aside an hour every Thursday night to do nothing but craft.”

Take a peek around you and see who you can link up with. Next week, we’re talking about additional ways to find and build community, and how to stay accountable to your projects and goals. What they are, where to find them, and how to get involved.

Until then, tie yourself to the chair if that’s what it takes.

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