Writers Groups
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Hi my loves,
I seem to have settled into a rhythm of a weekend substack post for free subscribers and every other week a little bit extra for paid subscribers (thanks again for helping me stay afloat! I appreciate you!!)
Over the years I have joined various writers groups. Writers groups are where writers gather—often beginners—to read their writing and get feedback if they want it. Feedback is a scary thing for new writers, so a common rule is to say two things that they did well, and one thing, sandwiched in between, that they might want to work on.
Sometimes it’s just nice to be around other writers. Other times it provides some support and accountability if you want to get a piece of writing finished and polished. This is also called workshopping. These groups usually meet every other week and have about 6 -8 writers in them. Not every writers group is a good one. So sometimes you have to be willing to shop around. Feedback is different from criticism. I’ve left more than one writers group where it just wasn’t a good fit or a tyrannical leader ruled over the group.
The one I found here in Jonesborough, my new hometown, looks like a good fit. I want to use them for accountability, bringing a section to read at every meeting until I have a finished a first draft. If you are lucky in these kind of groups, you have at least one older, more experienced writer who mentors you a bit and who teaches you things you didn’t know, thus giving invaluable feedback. My first writers group was in Hendersonville, NC and had two published writers in it. I made a commitment to bring in a new chapter to read aloud every time we met.
Al, the group’s leader, suggested that I have a no tinkering rule, meaning I didn’t go back in and rework the same chapter again until I finished an entire rough draft of the entire book. It took me over a year of writing a brand new chapter every meeting, but I wrote my first novel that way.
Since I’ve stuck with this writing gig for 30 years, I get to be the older, more experienced writer this time.
I have to remind myself that the majority of people who attend a writer’s group are there just to have fun writing and explore the creative process.
I have been very lucky to make a career out of writing, and I continue to work hard at it. (Paid subscribers. look for a sneak peek of the first page of my new book as Secret #3 next week. If I have the courage to share it, that is.) It’s not my usual fare. And I have to admit it is scaring the bejesus out of me … in a good way.
I came out of the womb being a very private, very shy, person and so to contemplate writing a memoir, and telling my personal story, (yes, you read that right) is a challenge indeed. Wish me luck!
In the meantime, I hope you are getting outside a little, reading a really good novel, and maybe challenging yourself a little, too. It’s never too late to stretch and grow and try something new.
Love you!
Susan
Susan you put so much of yourself into your writing. For those of us who have read it all - we probably will not be surprised by this “next one”. I dare say we know you better than you think we do!
Be brave. It will free you! And we will still be here with you. Yes, different roads but with the same strong hearts that brought us to read your books in the first place and fall in love.
Every one of your columns has set me to thinking about something important in my life...and of course, today's offering reminds me of the very special writer's group you led in Brevard, North Carolina. It was life changing for many of us, even if we didn't aspire to make our living as published writers. I think that writing gets us to the heart of things...and isn't that where we (at least some of us) want to live? In my corner, I offer this quote from James Baldwin: “The terrible thing about being a writer is that you don’t decide to become one, you discover that you are one… I’m not trying to solve anybody’s problems, not even my own. I’m just trying to outline what the problems are… I want to be stretched, shook up, to overreach myself, and to make you feel that way too.”