Writing Groups and Such

Grammy Blick asked me a pertinent question. How do you find writing groups in an area. Oddly enough, this is not as easy as it would seem. They don't tend to advertise... at least if they did, I'd have known of them before now.

Actually, libraries may have this information about local writing groups. If you are from a fairly large, as in larger than Mayberry, city your library may host writing events. The local community colleges may also. Doing NaNo is a great way to meet local writers or people in your general area. There are over 100,000 people registered to participate this year alone. Go to the NaNo website and check the board for your region. My guess is that you will find someone who is participating within a short distance. Last year there were six of us who got together. This year, there are 20 who attended the first Write-in. There are 52 registered writers in my region. A good example for Grammy is the Dallas/Ft Worth area. There are 1028 pariticpants writing! They've logged in over a million words already!

The writing group I am in is comprised of five souls, one male and four females. We were thrown together by fate. I swear, it was just that. We vary in age from 53 to 30, with most of them in their mid to late 30's. We've discovered we actually like each other and for people who were total strangers when me met, that is astounding.

We met through our NaNoWriMo region forum I mentioned above. Sarah and I met in our regional forum when talking about upcoming Nano and she knew Kathy. I knew Doug from last year's NaNo write-in. We emailed one another and somewhere in there someone suggested meeting to talk writing and critique each other's work. I do not know where Katie came from but I think she was floating around somewhere in the group. We met the first time at Barnes and Noble and in the process of trying to find other places to meet, we decided I was in the middle and now we meet at my house.

It is working quite well I think. Most of us have NO experience professionally except maybe Sarah. Her book is with an agent. She said she has three rejections. I have had one article published in the early 90's in a defunct local Parents magazine. I've had one rejection from a submitted article. They say once you get a rejection, you are a writer. I can't tell you what makes one. I just know I write.

I guess the best advice is to look around. Find other people who share your interest in writing. Suggest getting together over coffee, at a bookstore or library to discuss writing and come right out and say you want to form a writer's group. Believe it or not, there are probably a lot of people wanting the same thing. Not all of them can write. . . or should, but if you find more than three, you're bound to get some talent.

It doesn't matter if you like the same kinds of writing. Doug does a specialized fantasy like Lord of the Rings without all the creatures. Katie writes romance. Sarah writes what she calls Urban Fantasy and that I've come to understand is like the Twilight series but she is into werewolves at the moment. Kathy like romantic suspense. I love mysteries. Five different writing styles and genres. We each bring something different to our critiques. Our discussions are focused around the work in question but we venture out on what makes a story work for each person, how to fix a certain problem. We all know something about what we are doing. We are all learning how to improve our own writing. We make suggestions, share ideas, and sometimes we talk about food! And we have a lot of fun in the process. It is sort of a win-win situation.

Grammy also pointed out that her local college didn't offer a writing course. This is sadly also a common finding. Larger universities tend to have special courses designed to focus on journalism or creative writing. Most colleges will have some kind of writing class but it you are looking just for a way to learn something new and enjoyable and polish a skill, well, those types of classes may not fit the bill.

I never took a single writing class until college. But I read everything I could on writing. The University of Southern Indiana had both creative writing classes and journalism classes. I took one creative writing class my last year. All other classes fell under the title of journalism. Journalism in most programs will fall under the Mass Communications label so if you don't find anything listed specifically under writing, look there.

Writer's Digest is a font of information on all kinds of writing stuff. You'll find creditable writing programs mentioned in their magazine and online. They have their own, I believe.

Finally, and again, read books about writing.

No... finally, write. Just write.