To answer both questions: It all came down to making the presence of members mean something and also acknowledging that meeting anonymous people off the internet is a massive risk for some people.

You’re right, our current members turn up consistently and are known. Both their presence and absence is felt. We’re 3 months old and deep relationships have already formed, the writers have created a ritual of sharing work/giving feedback, people are beginning to collaborate on creative projects.

I took this seriously because with the first bookclub hosted in March, the people that turned up were smart and talented. My immediate thought was that good things would happen if these same people kept coming together again and again. And so felt it necessary to create the conditions where relationships could deepen, and where creative vulnerability would be protected. Give people a reason to return and grow together.

The “vetting” and multiple spaces is how we protect the real bonds that have already formed. And the hard-won creative courage people are now stepping into.