Why I Host the Olive Tree Writing Club

This Wednesday, I’m hosting the first of many summer writing sessions with the Olive Tree Writing Club. RSVP here to join!

In the past year, I’ve hosted weekly writing sessions with a few friends. We named our group the Olive Tree Writing Club, a reference to our original gathering spot. I wrote about this in a previous post.

After a successful start to the year, we faced some challenges when our venue was lost post-February. When times are tough, I think back to why I do this in the first place.

The meetup started simply as a group of friends who were passionate about writing. But it grew into a thriving community and an opportunity for me to connect with writers in New York. I always love meeting other writers, as the craft of writing requires curiosity, open-mindedness, and empathy - qualities that writers tend to possess and qualities that I gravitate towards.

Living in NYC for almost a year now, a city that can be fast-paced and superficial, I also noticed a desire for deeper, sincere connections. For me, the magic of the OTWC comes down to two things: consistency and connection.

First, the OTWC meets every week, same time, same place, and free of charge. No matter if you live here or if you’re just visiting the city, you can depend on us to be available and ready to welcome you back.

Second, at the end of sessions, we break out into smaller groups and share our writing. This provides an opportunity for meaningful conversation outside of the typical NYC discourse. This creates a space to meet curious, creative people in a non-pretentious atmosphere.

For the past month, I was on the road and I took a break from hosting the writing club. They say you never realize what you have until it’s gone, and during this break, my conviction is even stronger, that this is an idea, a community, that needs to exist.