The past couple of nights I’ve had the opportunity to settle down and spend some time in a little place called #Pubwrite where many of my fellow writers hang out to just relax and chat with each other about anything, everything, or about nothing in particular. I remember when I first entered the pub; it was so full of life. People were having a great time, laughing, sharing stories, and just cutting up. I also remember how welcoming and friendly everybody in the pub was. It wasn’t too long that I was included in the conversations, random ramblings, jokes, and so forth. I have made some great friendships at #Pubwrite.
So, what is #Pubwrite, anyway? #Pubwrite is basically a chat room on Twitter. By searching and ending every tweet with the hashtag #Pubwrite, you can follow the conversation… or whatever craziness happens to occur on any particular day. #Pubwrite is more than just a simple chat room, though. It is a growing community of supportive writers, published and non-published (Indie and Traditional), who log onto Twitter to hang out with other “writerly tweeps”… usually in the evenings. You never know what to expect in the pub, where by the way, Guinness is the “house favorite”. Sometimes you’ll see a few people just chatting about their day. Some days you may see folks chatting about various literary topics. Other days may get crazy and you’ll see someone giving “bare” hugs, a crazy guy wearing his pants on his head, and pudding wrestling. Yeah, the pub is one fine place to visit.
Sadly, over the past weeks the pub seemed empty. Only a few people found their way to the pub occasionally; the roar of laughter and GABRIEL! fell silent. For various reasons, the pub just wasn’t the same as it used to be and perhaps the writers took their Guinness-filled mugs elsewhere or simply “stayed home”. I was afraid #Pubwrite as I once knew it was going out of business. The “Open” sign flickered and was slowly going dim… but then something happened.
Yesterday, as I was cruising the streets of Twitterville (browsing through my Twitter feed), I decided to swing by the pub, just to see if I saw any familiar faces. I slowed down and was about to just “drive by”, but then something caught my attention. There was a crowd inside the pub. I could hear music, laughter… the pub was alive and kicking. I looked inside and saw a few familiar faces and my own face lit up. I joined the conversation and had a blast.
Monday night was even better. I don’t know if someone was giving away free drinks or what, but #Pubwrite had a great crowd. There were so many people in the pub, it was actually kind of hard to keep up with everything that was going on. It was just like the good ‘ol days that I remembered… the days that I looked forward to logging on to Twitter so I could chat with my friends. I had a lot of great laughs and saw a lot of friends I hadn’t chatted with in a while. It was a good feeling.
So, in closing, I’d like to thank everyone for making #Pubwrite such a great place to hang out again. You all know who you are when I say I consider you true friends. Your words of encouragement and just hearing (or reading) writers encouraging other writers is a great pick-me-up and inspiration to keep at it and never give up. Most of you may not know this, but believe it or not, #Pubwrite is one of the main reasons I decided to pick up writing again and the reason I even have this Web site in the first place.
Until next time, I’ll see you in the pub. Cheers! And GABRIEL!
Sharkbait Writes 
Hi Rob,
I’ve not been able to spend time in the pub due to late night editing, but I’m glad you found it filled with people again. The summer’s are a tough time too. I’ve noticed that traffic on blogs slow down as well.
Thanks for posting this.
eden
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Hi, Eden! Thanks for swinging by my humble establishment in cyberspace. The summers do get a bit hectic. Taking a few days off from the day job has allowed me to switch gears, clear my mind from the stresses of work, and just relax. I find it so much easier to write when my brain isn’t on overdrive. Go figure.
I hope to see you in the pub some time in the near future. Oh, by the way, that was a great interview with Al Boudreau!
Cheers!
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When I first stumbled upon PubWrite, I meant to ease my way through the doorway, intending to sit in a nice chair in the back until I would eventually make my way forth into the throng of friends gathered laughing and indulging in quiet (or riotous!) conversations. Instead, I was grabbed by my collar (thanks to the vivacious Jennifer Gracen) and dragged into the fray. Normally a bit quiet and shy, I found myself surrounded by a group of people with smiles and laughter in their eyes, talk that couldn’t help but elicit a fevered response in kind. PubWrite is one of those rare places where everyone is welcomed with the same friendly attitude shown towards faces of long time acquaintances. It’s true that lately it has been stained with the stigmata of spammers and intrusive posters bearing no other purpose besides extreme over marketing, instead of bearing the fruit of conversation among fellow writers. I hope (and choose to believe) that PubWrite will regain it’s footing and become once again the place where friends slide refreshing drinks to one another, congratulate each other on their successes and accomplishments, and offer shoulders to lean on and open ears (and hearts) to those in slightly darker moods. PubWrite became a welcome place to find treasured friends, and it’s those people who will see that it remains a place where we can hang our hats.
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Remind me to thank Jennifer for dragging you by the collar to join the fun. I was the same way, when I first stumbled upon #Pubwrite… Kind of shy and just eavesdropping on the conversations. I took a couple of tweets and I sucked into the craziness (that first night was a wild one too). I think there were homicidal clowns involved or something. LOL! The atmosphere at the pub is awesome and I haven’t found a better group of people spend time with, even in the “real world”. Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts and I look forward to chatting with you there. Cheers!
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Hello Sharkie! I have to admit, being new to the writer community on twitter I still forget to #pubwrite my random tweets. I’m SURE that if I were to start people would be flooding in by the thousands 🙂 Bring the party Sharkie! xo
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LOL! I still forget to add the #pubwrite hashtag sometimes. It’s one reason I like to use TweetDeck; it puts the tag on there for you automatically when you reply to a tweet in the pub. Party on, Gage… and don’t forget the hot wings. Cheers!
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Well done post, Rob. I’ve not been able to spend time in the pub of late due to a variety of distractions that some call “life.” But it’s great to hear that the spirit lives on.
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Thanks, Tim. Yeah, life can do that can it. I’m glad to see the tables filling up in the pub again… with actual conversations. Even hard to keep up with at times. Take care, my friend.
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Oh Sharky! Yes, Monday night at the pub was like the “old” days, when I first joined (only a few months ago, but life moves fast in the Twitterverse!). It USED to be just people TALKING. Making friends, chatting about writing specifically and life in general, and always things to make us all laugh.
Everything Steve said above is true, so I’ll just say, “What he said.” It’s become a marketplace instead of a hangout. The friends I made there, and SO enjoyed chatting with there, have slowly left as the hashtag and product pushing has taken over. But I look every day, all the time, to see if anyone is in there just to TALK. Which is why I even joined Twitter in the first place.
So many people on Twitter now just seem to be there to push their wares. I joined to meet people. To talk to people with similar interests from all over the country, and even the world, that I wouldn’t have ever had an opportunity to meet otherwise. It’s the first place I’ve come to where I’ve met so many different kinds of writers, and have felt more like a writer since I started conversing daily with all these other writers. But #pubwrite was like… home base. My people. And it hasn’t been that this summer.
Maybe we’re all coming back now, seeing that what we wanted originally can still exist — the pub being a place to just kick back, talk to friends, and laugh. I scroll over all the “buy my this” and “see my that” on the main feed, and in the pubwrite feed. But I’ll ALWAYS have time to stop and talk to people. TALK. Say hi. People need to remember that part. Many have forgotten, but not all. Monday night proved that — that was the most fun I’ve had in the pub in ages, and I was sitting here with a smile a mile wide, just glowing with happiness. Sincerely.
So… went on a ramble. Where was I? Oh, yeah. Long live #pubwrite — in its ORIGINAL form, it’s one of the best places in the cyberworld to be. I adore the friends I’ve made there. I truly do. 🙂
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Thank you so much for visiting my site and reading my post. I’m very pleased at the response to this post. Apparently, there are a lot of us that have had this on our minds and are slowly but surely doing something about it. Like I mentioned to Lorna, it’s time to reclaim our beloved #Pubwrite and respectfully remind those that are using it as a marketing tool to kindly do the marketing elsewhere. #Pubwrite is for writers to hang out and just have some good old fashioned R&R, cutting up, meeting other writers, and just having a jolly good ‘ol time. The past couple of days have been good at the pub and I promise I am going to do my best to do my part to help bring #Pubwrite back to what it used to be.
Cheers and GABRIEL! Drink! 🙂
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I used to go to pubwrite regularly & it was great to kick back & relax with fellow writers and just have a laugh or two, but I noticed now that many writers are using the hashtag for those advertising their books for sales, etc. and are not really interacting with fellow writers on a social level.
Now, I wait at the table in the dark corner waiting for some of the pubwrite regulars to show up so I can say ‘hi’! I miss all my pubwrite friends… *sob*
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I hear ya, Lorna. Like you said in your tweet, we need to get Sheriff Steve to lay down the law for the newcomers to remind them what #Pubwrite is all about. The book promos are great and all on Twitter, but it’s not for the pub. I think the old regulars are starting to filter back into the pub now, which is great. We need to reclaim it. 🙂
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I’ve visited #pubwrite a few times. You make me want to go back by again and have a drink!
Erik
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I’m glad to hear that, Erik. We would love to have you. #Pubwrite is a great place to hang out and just chat with other writers. You never know what to expect. Some days are livelier than others… but when it’s lively, it’s LIVELY.
Tell ’em Sharkbait sent ya! First drink is on me. 🙂 Cheers!
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Yeah, #pubwrite is awesome. Sometimes I lurk, sometimes I join in but I usually check it out if I am online in the evening.
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Yes it is, DC. It’s always a pleasure to see you there (and here). Your next drink at the pub is on me. I may even bring hot wings!
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Wow, Rob, great post! People have mentioned #pubwrite in posts before, but this is one of the most well-written, thought-provoking, inspirational ones I’ve seen. And yes, Monday evening was hopping in there, first time in a while.
It’s a shame what happens to popular trends – people seem to want to use it for their own agenda. I think the main reason #pubwrite lacked in conversation for the past few weeks is just that. The stream became nothing but “read my blog, buy my book, check me out on IAN” posts with hashtag-hashtag-hashtag. I’ve even seen tweets with EIGHT hashtags appended. I almost want to say “shoo” to those while conversations are going on – it’s actually intrusive! Because #pubwrite is filled with great people, others want to try to capitalize on its popularity and ‘get noticed’ I suppose.
I’ve already made up my mind, and perhaps others have too, that if I see a worthwhile tweet with the #pubwrite tag that I wish to RT, I will REMOVE the #pubwrite tag before RTing to try to keep the stream clean (and hey, it’s already in there once, right?)
I wish there was a way to keep it nothing but friendly conversation and support, but I know that’s probably impossible. But quite honestly, I purposely ignore non-conversational tweets that use the hashtag, and won’t read their blog/check them out on IAN. I guess, because I was there way back when, I get offended… 🙂
Thanks Rob, good to see you in there, and thanks for the congrats. Gabriel!
~Steve
http://www.SteveUmstead.com
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I appreciate your praise on the post. After having such a great time in the pub last night I couldn’t hit the sack without writing about it. I also agree with everything you said. While some folks may think it is harmless to include the #Pubwrite hashtag with their promo tweets, that is not the purpose of the pub. It’s also great that you mention removing the hashtag when RTing tweets in the pub (excellent point). I may have been guilty of that one a few times, but then again, sometimes I forget to add the #Pubwrite hashtag during normal conversations if I’m not using Tweet Deck (shrugs shoulders). 🙂 Cheers!
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I have to agree with you, Rob. #pubwrite is a great place. I don’t get there as often as I would like– living on the otherside of the world where morning is night for everyone else. I have met people I call friends and I know we will stay friends even though we’ve never seen each other. There are people who will help you, encourage you, tease you and laugh with you. It’s a great place to learn how to give back too.
Wonderful post!
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Thanks, Dannie! I have to say when I first started using Twitter I had very low expectations. I’m very surprised on how much I’ve enjoyed using that particular social networking platform. I never would have thought that I would make such quality friends from what I used to think was just a mindless tool. #Pubwrite has definitely changed that for me.
As always, thanks for visiting and hopefully one day we’ll be able to have lunch at my favorite Mexican restaurant in town next time you make it back to the States. Take care, my friend.
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