Writer associations often face problems with keeping members engaged due to their solitary nature. This proposal outlines a couple of ideas for improving writer participation through offering a means of testing their skills mastery and giving peer recognition of their successes.

1. Writing:
A proposal to increase membership engagement
within the Maryland Writers’ Association
America’s Other
National Pastime

2. Other National Pastime?
Baseball, first called a “national pastime” in 1856,
earned this title for three reasons:
❏ Novices can freely participate, progressing in skill as they mature until reaching
professional-level play.
❏ Fans can engage in a single game, or follow a series of games played by their
favorite player(s) or team(s).
❏ It is an integral part of our culture, with references to legendary players and tools of
the game part of our everyday lexicon.
Writing does all of these things too: Barriers to self-publishing are
virtually non-existent and many new writers are joining the field, but writing
organizations struggle with attracting (and keeping) new members.
Why wouldn’t writers want to participate
in a writing organization?

3. Sitting on the Bench
As in baseball, there is only one batter in the game at a
time. Writing is often a solitary activity, and:
❏ The act of writing takes time and effort.
❏ After work and family, people have only a limited amount of time
for writing.
❏ Participating in writing organizations is normally time spent not
writing.
With every interaction, the Maryland Writers’ Association (MWA) should
focus on delivering a shared experience writers will value.
Writers must feel they are investing their free time,
not spending it.

4. Taking the Field
In baseball, players must do important things besides
batting for their team to win. MWA members may find
value in doing things besides writing, such as:
❏ Connecting Socially through:
❏ Displaying trade affiliation and writing badges.
❏ Receiving reminders to update writing progress.
❏ Developing Skills through:
❏ Completing writer challenges.
❏ Sharing knowledge on an information exchange.
Peer recognition and skills mastery are two strong
reasons to be active in a writing organization.

5. Connecting Socially - Writer Badges
Writers display badges representing their writing skills
and interests as part of their organizational profile.
❏ Trade Affiliation (length, type/genre)
❏ poetry, short story, novel, series
❏ fiction, non-fiction, commercial
❏ Area of expertise
❏ writing, editing, publishing, marketing
Writing organizations can promote these elements by:
❏ Listing open contests, workshops, and gigs by affiliation.
❏ Tagging blog posts and newsletter articles with areas of expertise.
Badges (and tagging) help writers find peer groups
and news that matches their unique interests.

6. Connecting Socially - Status Reminders
Writers often work in isolation, and lose sight of just how
much they are getting done. MWA could:
❏ Set up automated email for writers with a customized message-
‘Time to update your writing status’.
❏ Offer a “snooze button” - let them log in and reset the countdown
to when they would receive the next message.
❏ Let others know how writers in their affiliation are doing.
❏ Praise writers for making regular progress, achieving milestones,
and offer badges as awards for completing personal writing goals.
Status updates offer writers the means to share their
writing goals and give progress reports.

7. Developing Skills - Challenge / Reward
Writers could gauge their professional development by
accepting skill-based challenges, which should be:
❏ Voluntary, based on areas of expertise, and designed to test a
specific skill level.
❏ Defined by concrete objectives, such as “vividly describe a winter
scene in 25 words or less.”
❏ Objectively judged by writers who have demonstrated higher skills
in the same area of expertise.
❏ Rewarded by the victor earning peer recognition and a chance to
write new challenges.
Challenges allow writers to test their abilities and
earn recognition for mastering writer skills.

8. Developing Skills - Information Exchange
One way to reward writers who complete challenges is to
grant editorial access to an online information exchange,
such as a Q&A forum or writing opportunities board.
❏ Writers may share links to informative articles and writing
opportunities they find online.
❏ Writers may author their own Challenges for others to complete
(individual or team-based) at a lower skill level.
❏ Writers may receive special recognition and sponsor virtual
workshops for other writers in the same trade affiliation or writing
path.
Access to the information exchange gives writers the
means to share skills with their peers.

9. Measuring Participation
To see how engaged members are, MWA should track
action points (AP) for online activities like:
❏ Track AP by member as well as by action. This will tell you who is
participating and what actions they value.
❏ Only count points for the current cycle (monthly or quarterly). You
can adjust challenges and badges to promote desired actions.
❏ Points should never determine a member’s skills level or give
members access to site features.
Writers should care about actions, not points.
❏ update status
❏ share article/gig
❏ judge submission
❏ ask/answer a question
❏ complete a challenge
❏ complete badge set
❏ refer/host an event
❏ sponsor a member
❏ represent MWA

10. Reaching Goals
By focusing on delivering value to writers, local writing
organizations like MWA can expect to see writers who:
❏ Identify with their peers
❏ Routinely update their status
❏ Challenge themselves and other writers to develop their writing
skills
❏ Share writing knowledge and opportunities with others
❏ Promote activities within MWA community
As in baseball, a member doesn’t have to hit every
pitch to win if the team plays well.

11. The Next Step
You may have some questions after this presentation,
so please contact me if you’d like to learn more about:
Establishing writer
badges to display
trade affiliations
and areas of
expertise.
Setting up writing
challenges to test
and recognize a
writer’s skills
mastery.
Carl Rauscher
Fiction Writer and Part-time Futurist
http://carlrauscher.com pen2paper@gmail.com @crauscher