Behind-the-Scenes of #WriteAndWine
I’ve been running #WriteAndWine for two years now, and I feel like a whole lot of it has been a trial-and-error, learn-as-you-go, choose-your-own-adventure sort of journey. Which is great! I love the community that has built around this little chat. I love watching it grow, I love seeing writers come together to support each other, I love figuring things out together as we move along.
Before starting my own chat, I participated in my fair share of weekly Twitter hang-outs. Now, I don’t know how other hosts handle their behind-the-scenes work, but I do know that I learned a lot from being on the participant end. Namely: (1) get yourself an attention-grabbing hashtag, (2) ask thought-provoking questions that will garner fun and thoughtful answers, (3) encourage interaction by retweeting participants so that everyone’s tweets are easy to see and respond to, and (4) promote the chat throughout the week so that folks know when and where to find it.
All that said, I really do love pulling back the curtain and learning how things work on the other end. And because I find it interesting, I think that others might find it interesting, too. So, here’s what a typical week looks like behind-the-scenes of #WriteAndWine!
AHEAD OF TIME:
At the start of every month, I pick the chat topics and create a shareable master schedule in Canva. This year I’ve been selecting topics from a survey I sent out at the end of 2019. I’ve really enjoyed this because I know I’m choosing topics that people will be excited about. The completed schedule gets shared in our (new!) monthly newsletter and on Twitter to help promote each month’s chats. If I know that I’m going to be busy on a chat day, I’ll ask some #WriteAndWine regulars if they will be available to guest host. Someone always steps to the plate, and I’m so grateful for that!
MONDAY & TUESDAY:
I like to start off the week with a promotional tweet letting folks know what topic #WriteAndWine will be discussing that week. I try to give a little taste of what the chat will cover. For example, when promoting our “Monsters in Literature” chat, I mentioned that we’d touch on things like classic monsters, monster tropes, and what monsters represent in fiction.
I also begin to research the topic we’ll discuss early in the week so I can draft a few questions. This research usually includes skimming a few blog posts on the topic, looking up writing exercises and worksheets, and browsing my personal library to see if I have any books that discuss the topic. I also like to ask friends who frequent the chat if there are any questions on the topic they’d like to address. They always have great suggestions!
WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY:
This is usually when I finish my research and draft all my questions. I like to schedule my chat tweets ahead of time. I originally used Hootsuite because I was used to it from my digital marketing days, but now that Twitter lets you schedule posts right on the website, I’ve been doing that. I’ll also post a quick reminder.
For a while, I did #WineWednesday, which featured a reminder of the upcoming chat and a preview question about the topic. While I liked doing these, I got too busy to keep up with them. I try to limit my social media use during the week as is, because I prefer to focus that time on school and work. However, when things calm down again, Wine Wednesdays might make a comeback! For now, I try to get at least one more reminder in before the chat.
FRIDAY:
Friday is chat day! I sometimes post one more reminder the morning of, especially if the week got busy and I didn’t get to tweet. In the afternoon, I check over the scheduled questions to make sure there are no issues and everything is scheduled to post at the correct time. If I didn’t get to finish writing my questions, I do this on Friday afternoons, too. About ten minutes before chat time, I’ll pour myself a drink (lately it’s been flavored kombucha or a ginger beer). I usually host with three tabs open: one open to my Twitter profile, one trained on my notifications tab, and one open to the #WriteAndWine hashtag. This way, I don’t miss anybody’s answers, and I can trouble shoot if a question doesn’t post!
Once 8:30pm rolls around, I’m focused on retweeted, replying, and having a grand old time. I switch between the tabs to make sure that everybody chatting with us is included, and try to personally interact with as many folks as possible. One of my all-time favorite things to do is talk to other writers, so Friday nights definitely put me in my glory.
SATURDAY & SUNDAY:
On Saturday mornings, I go back through the chat answers and make a list of everyone who joined in so that I can post my thank you tweet. I also collect all the previous night’s chat questions and put them into my spreadsheet. I’m kind of a spreadsheet nerd. I keep this one so that I don’t accidentally repeat topics or questions (at least not too close together - I’m not against revisiting a topic, especially if it was popular, but I also don’t want the chats to feel redundant).
If I have the time, I might also use the weekends to work on our newsletter, plan future chats, and set up for our newly-added Zoom Hang-Outs. Sometimes, I just take the weekend off to catch up on my writing or go into the world to interact with other humans (these days, from a safe distance).
And there you have it! My typical week hosting a Twitter chat. Of course, there can be a lot of variety. Some weeks get busy and I promote the chats less or need a guest host to hold down the fort. Some weeks, I cancel chat to catch up on work or just have a mental health day. I try to keep things as flexible as possible, because life tends to be unpredictable, and sometimes you really have to roll with the punches.
Did you like this little behind-the-scenes glimpse? Let me know in the comments! And, as always, #WriteAndWine chats happen every Friday at 8:30pm Eastern Time. All are welcome. I hope you’ll consider joining us!