The Co-Co's Writer Cohort from the Perspective of Judy McLaughlin
By: Judy McLaughlin
I am a writer: writer of stories, lover of words. It says so on my Instagram profile. Yup, I joined Insta and yet as a rule, I tend to not be a “joiner” preferring to do my writing by myself, which is why over the years I have only belonged to two writer’s groups. SHAG, officially known as The Short Hills Authors’ Group—we thought we were so funny—and the CoCo Writer’s Cohort. SHAG was created some fifteen years ago, four writers, all young mothers with eleven children among us and a passion for all things creative. I like to think we helped keep each other sane, while pursuing our craft. We did exercises in SHAG like brainstorming and freewriting, meeting monthly at coffee shops, diners and each other’s houses (when we couldn’t get sitters) and we shared what we wrote. We even started a communal story—each one of us taking the story for the month and adding to it. We passed it around a few times, and if I search through old files, I’m sure I could find it. But mostly we were there to inspire each other, cheer each other on, and get each other to do the one thing we all agreed we wanted to do. WRITE! During our time together, one of us published a book and we all went to her opening at, of all places, Elaine’s. One of us published a magazine article and we framed the piece and brought it to her house. And two of us just kept writing. Life got complicated, children grew, and SHAG faded away, not unlike the seventies mustard yellow and rust carpet of the same name. (Both still hold a special spot in my heart).
Individually, we kept writing, creating, raising our kids, going back to school, moving across town or across the country. Flash forward fifteen years, and one of the founders of SHAG is now a founder of the CoCo. Lynne Pagano. In some ways the CoCo Writer’s Cohort is the next, best version of SHAG, taking the idea of four creative women supporting each other, to the next level.
We are no longer four, but rather a rotating group of some twenty writers who meet on the fourth Thursday of each month at a beautiful co-working space in Summit, NJ called the CoCo. And we are more than just members of the Cohort, we are member of the CoCo a network of mostly women and a few men who connect, inspire, and propel each other to new heights, no matter where we are in our journey.
Through the CoCo Writer’s Cohort, I have met so many women in all phases of the process who simply want to write. Our group includes published authors (some on book tours, some who have optioned stories for the movies) visionaries, dreamers, stay-at-home moms, empty nesters, mental health care providers, life coaches, comedians, New York Times journalists, essayists, editors of college applications.
Sure, there are plenty of venues where one can study the craft of writing, learning how to show not tell, delve into deep point of view, and write better dialogue. But at the CoCo we can do all that and So. Much. More. Here is the place you will spend ninety minutes and leave with no less than ten connections—contacts for teachers, editors, bloggers, places to submit, websites to try, and huge doses of inspiration. (Side-note: when I return to my job after ninety minutes of CoCo time my inspiration is visible, my co-workers noting with great appreciation, “She’s been there again.”)
Together we are stronger than anyone of us is alone. We write, but perhaps the biggest benefit of this group comes from the name of the space we write in—the CoCo. We COnnect. We COhort. We COnvene. We COlearn. We EnCOurage. We EnCOunter. We COllaborate.
This team of woman, different every week, founded by one of the original members of SHAG, and the premise she encouraged, will, like SHAG, always, and I mean always, have your back.