Ball Pit

Having fun at a writer’s group

There is something magical about finding a fun writer’s group.

At last weekend’s Sunday Writers group we tried out a new activity – Word Bingo. Now, before you groan here me out – this was a far more fun than it had any right to be. That might be because I am hugely competitive and I happened to win. Who is to say. Winning the prize for that week certainly was nice. I can tell you that.

You play word bingo like normal bingo. You each have a sheet of writer-related words and the speaker says that word, you tick it off. The speaker, in our case, is whoever is presenting something or asking a question, or whatever – it depends on what we are doing at the time.

The benefits of a fun writer’s group

We noticed an unintended and beneficial side effect of the game. While we were playing, every one of us paid rapt attention to what was being said. Our listening skills were turned up to 11.

The point is that creativity and working together does not need to be boring or overly serious. A lot of studies show that if you can have fun doing something, your focus is greatly improved.

Which is why I spent a lot of the day, yesterday, writing a generator script to make Writer’s Group Word Bing cards. There is a post on the Author Buzz Dev blog explaining how it works under the hood. If you have a geeky side and want to take a look then check it out.

Writers’ Word Bingo

How do you have fun at your writer’s group?

This got me thinking. How do other writers groups make their weekly (or monthly) events maximally fun?

Let me know in the comments about the fun activities that take place at your local writers’ group. After all, everyone loves a fun writer’s group, right?

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