Writers’ Cafe
online community with support & accountability
Writers’ Cafe is an online community for all writers, offering support, encouragement, and (gentle!) accountability as you work towards your writing goals.
It costs just $10 per month (£8 if you prefer GBP) which gives you full access to our live writing hours, weekly check-ins, writing prompts, feedback on your writing, and more.
Writers’ Cafe
Imagine what you could accomplish with the encouragement of a supportive community of writers …
📗 Begin writing that novel you’ve been dreaming about for years 📗
🖥️ Get going with your blog again, building an audience and platform 🖥️
📝Enter a short story competition with a piece you’re really proud of 📝
⏲️ Carve out writing time to make real progress with a major project ⏲️
💲 Start making money (or bring in more money) as a freelance writer 💲
💡 Experiment with new ideas and explore your creativity 💡
Whatever your writing dreams look like, you’ll be welcomed and supported inside my Writers’ Cafe.
What’s Included
Weekly Writing Hours
Our weekly writing hours are a chance to sit and focus on your writing alongside others. This is the best way to make time to write within a busy week: by putting it on your calendar.
Currently, our weekly writing hours are:
Mondays, 4-5pm BST (UK time) (11am-noon EDT, 8-9am PDT)
Thursdays, 9-10pm BST (UK time) (4-5pm EDT, 1-2pm PDT)
Sundays, 7-8pm BST (UK time) (2-3pm EDT, 11am-noon PDT)
You can find out what these times are in your time zone using this time zone converter.
If those times don’t work, you can suggest other writing hour slots in the community. I’ll always try to be as flexible as possible so everyone has at least one good option for their schedule.
Weekly Writing Prompts
Each week, I give you a new writing prompt (or sometimes more than one to choose from).
The prompts are designed to work for different types of writing, so you can use them for fiction or non-fiction, for short flash pieces or for incorporating into much longer works, and so on.
Weekly Check-Ins
Each week, I post a “check-in” topic in our community, so you can share your progress from the previous week and tell us what you’re planning to work on during the week ahead.
These are great for feeling accountable to others and staying on track, as well as for getting encouragement and support during weeks where things didn’t quite work out.
Weekly Q&As
Each week, I record a Q&A where I answer any questions you have relating to writing.
Anything goes here, whether it’s the finer details of punctuating dialogue, advice on handling tricky freelance client situations, or tips for staying motivated during the “sticky middle” of a project.
Opportunities for Feedback
It can be scary to ask for feedback on your work … but it’s also such a fantastic way to grow and to improve your writing fast.
If you’re looking to enter a competition or get something published, feedback really is invaluable. You can post your work any time in our community to get thoughts and suggestions from others.
About Ali
I write both fiction and non-fiction, and I’ve been making a living writing since 2008.
Over the years, I’ve faced all the same sorts of writing challenges you have. I’ve written around a full-time job, alongside studies, as a full-time freelancer, and while raising kids (they’re now 9 and 11). So I totally get how tough it can be to find even 15 minutes a day to write.
During my writing journey so far, I’ve had plenty of high points, from signing a book deal for Publishing Ebooks for Dummies in 2012 to having my best-ever freelancing year in 2023.
But I also know the many challenges involved in things like building an online audience, plucking up the courage to self-publish a novel, and navigating the tough moments that inevitably crop up in a freelancing career.
Writers’ Cafe isn’t a place for me to lecture you about writing (or harrangue you about not doing enough). It’s where I can come alongside you and support you, cheering you on and offering encouragement.
Join Us Now
Writers’ Cafe is just $10/month.
That covers everything: all the writing hours, prompts, check-ins, Q&As, etc.
There’s no minimum commitment: you can leave at any time.
Writers’ Cafe is currently closed for new members, but you can join the waiting list to be notified as soon as any places open up.
What Could You Achieve?
Even if you just use one part of the cafe, you could achieve some amazing goals. Here are a few ideas for you…
#1: Write Your Book Just By Attending Writing Hours
You want to write a book. You’ve got a rough outline or lots of notes, but you haven’t even written the first sentence of your first draft yet.
If you join two writing hours each week and do absolutely no other writing, you could have a full 75,000+ word draft of your book by the end of a year. That’s an entire novel or a good-length non-fiction book.
(That’s assuming a rate of 750 words per writing hour, for 50 weeks.)
#2: Post Consistently on Your Blog Just By Checking In Weekly
Would you love to publish a blog post every week, without fail?
If you tell us each week that you’re going to write and publish a post, and you share the link to your post with us by the end of the week and do absolutely nothing else … then you’ll have thirteen new posts on your blog within three months, or 52 posts after a year.
#3: Build a Body of Work Just By Using the Weekly Prompts
Maybe you don’t even know what you want to write. You’re just tired of waiting for an idea and writing nothing at all.
If you simply spend 20 minutes each week tackling one of our writing prompts or challenges, that’s 52 short pieces by the end of the year. Those could be flash fiction, scenes that add up to a longer story, poems, reflective pieces for your blog, or anything else you want to work on.
Q & A
How much does Writers’ Cafe cost?
Writers’ Cafe is $10/month. You’re not tied into a contract or anything: you can leave at any time.
If you feel the Cafe isn’t right for you, just let me know within your first month and I’ll refund you in full.
Are there any discounts available?
During the “early bird” offer in May, you can get your first month for just $5 using the coupon code EARLYBIRD.
I do have a few free places available, if you’re a student or on a low income. Drop me an email at ali@aliventures.com if you’d be interested in one of those. (All I ask is that if you find you’re not using Writers’ Cafe for an extended period of time, you let me know so I can give the free place to someone else.)
What types of writers is Writers’ Cafe for?
If you want to write, Writers’ Cafe is for you! It’s for novelists, short story writers, bloggers, freelance writers, poets, memoirists, academics, and anyone else who would like to write – or write more.
You might be totally new to writing or you might have been writing for decades … or something in between. We’d love to have you in the Cafe regardless. 🙂
Do I need to use my legal name for Writers’ Cafe?
No, you can use a pen-name or any name you want. Just set this to whatever you like when you create your profile.
How do I create my profile?
You’ll need to enter your email address and set a password before paying.
After you pay, you’ll see a form to fill out so you can create your profile. You can change any/all of this information at a later point! All you actually need to enter at this stage is a name.
When are the weekly writing hours?
Currently, our weekly writing hours are held at:
Mondays, 4-5pm BST (UK time) (11am-noon EDT, 8-9am PDT)
Thursdays, 9-10pm BST (UK time) (4-5pm EDT, 1-2pm PDT)
Sundays, 7-8pm BST (UK time) (2-3pm EDT, 11am-noon PDT)
What if I can’t make the writing hours?
We hold writing hours three times a week and I’ve tried to pick times that work for most timezones. I know they won’t suit everyone though, so I’m very open to changing the times around or potentially adding extra writing hours.
There’s a topic inside Writers’ Cafe where you can suggest new writing hour times.
Do I have to join the writing hours on video?
Nope! Our writing hours take place in a private live room within Circle. I’ll be there on video but if you prefer to have your camera off, that’s totally fine. At the start of each writing hour, you’ll be invited to tell us what you’ll be working on. You don’t have to speak out loud if you prefer not to: there’s a text chat within the live room too.
Occasionally (usually when I’m travelling and have poor internet access!) we’ll run the whole writing hour through text chat, in the Writers’ Cafe chatroom. If this proves popular, I’ll try to add some text-only writing hours into the mix.
What if I miss the weekly check-in?
Most of us will miss a week occasionally! There’s no obligation to check in. You can just jump back in the next time you have a chance.
You’ll automatically get an email and in-app notification when I post the check-in topic (each Monday), though you can turn off these notifications if you prefer.
How do I keep up with what’s happening in Writers’ Cafe?
Each Thursday/Friday, you’ll receive an email digest from Writers’ Cafe. This includes the weekly writing prompt, reminds you about the check-in thread for the week, highlights the upcoming weekly writing hours, and lets you know about any popular discussions in the group during the past few days, so you can easily catch up.
How is Writers’ Cafe Different from the Aliventures Club?
If you’ve been around Aliventures for a while, you’ll know I have a private Facebook group, the Aliventures Club, for anyone who’s bought anything from me (ever!)
The Aliventures Club is still going and you’re more than welcome to join that in addition to Writers’ Cafe. It’s a great place to chat with other writers.
Writers’ Cafe is considerably more in-depth and has lots of involvement from me. It’s run on the Circle platform (much less distracting than Facebook) and gives us lots of extra options like live rooms for the weekly writing hours, email digests of what’s happening in the group, a chatroom, and more.