Writing Groups

Trish reported in about her writing groups ... I should as well, briefly, as I am convalescing with Campbell's chicken soup and classic Doctor Who while recuperating from a bug that has me working from home and sadly, not writing from home as there's too much work to do. :-(

Ann Crispin's Writer's Workshop was a big help for me writing, but the cameraderie of the other DragonWriters from the 2002 class has helped even more. Our Yahoo Group, our yearly (and now more frequent) meetings, and occasional (for me) critique rotation have been very helpful.

The best, however, is the Writing Group at Barnes and Noble at Steven's Creek. It's a writing group, not a critique group, and the two 20-minute writing sessions are where much of my latest novels were written. The group has had spinoffs - a pizza night for cameraderie and a brief Publish-and-Perish group with a critique rotation - but the core group itself has been the most helpful because of its consistent no-critique, just-write, now-you-have-to-read-it philosophy of the current group leader, Keiko.

There's also a writing group at my company, the Search Engine That Starts With a G. We meet occasionally but mostly discuss things relevant to our writing lives.

Not all writers need writing groups, but almost all writers need a writing circle, a group of friends or colleagues they can bounce ideas off of.

Where's yours?