Day 54: Writing a wrong

Write Together London (as with all the Write Togethers in many cities around the world) is a meetup where you can go and just write. People come together (in the case of this one a couple of dozen) to sit in silence for between 1.5 and 2.5 hours, and do nothing but knuckle down and work.

It can be so easy in the modern world to be distracted by so many things – especially technology and social media – that dedicating some time where other people around you will keep you honest and accountable is really valuable. I manage to write three chapters of a novel I’ve been working on for over a year and am still only around two-thirds of the way through. In short: it’s useful.

But this is about play, so the question is: is it fun? I guess that, given play is (in my mind) a lot about immersion, that it is surely more playful to actually go about writing seriously and attentively than to squeeze it in between other activities. A large block of time does give me a chance to get really stuck in, but if I’m honest I do wonder if the obligation to shut up and write might make this a bit stricter and less playful.

On the other hand, I get a good deal of creating done, and I am given a chance to really visualise and throw myself into the world I’m trying to envisage, so it’s certainly transporting and fun to be somewhere else, at least for two and a half hours…

It’s none of their business that you have to learn to write. Let them think you were born that way – Ernest Hemingway

Ease of play: 4/10 (I find writing pretty hard!)

Resemblance to play: 4/10 (furrowed eyebrows and serious concentration)

Aggression: Low-to-Medium

Speed: Slow

Enjoyability: Low-to-Medium

Potential frequency of play: High (there are groups in London every day!)