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?

Trish Reporting in!

So thrilled we've got our blog!

Hoping that the live meeting at the Atlanta Bread Company went well. I'm sorry I couldn't make it... the video chat with the last one got me juiced for more writing. :)

Perhaps a good kick-off post would be to talk about good writing groups?

I know I belong to a few, and Kim has a group at Barnes & Noble, and Anthony, I think you've mentioned another group before?

A lot of conventions I've gone to talk about joining writing groups, and there's generally a split on if they are useful or not... with the end "judgment" being that "it all depends on the group."

DragonWriters was my first writing group, and the fact we've kept up with each other for almost 8 years now, put me in the general opinion that writing groups are great things. Though we've had our lapses... and I, personally, have been really crappy about returning critiques to people in the past few years... the fact we are all here and keep chatting with each other is a positive influence in my life. As the stars aligned in 2002, we happened to put together a wonderful group of writers - people in general - and I feel that energy whenever I get to chat with anyone in the group.

On the critiques, in general, I also think the group gives a particularly high level of critique. We make our comments with the idea that we want each other to succeed, and it shows. Wanting each other to succeed doesn't mean we only say how much we love a story. No, in fact, some of the most in-depth and toughest critiques I've ever received come from this group. But, no one seems to forget that we're doing this because we want to see each others' names in print - that we want to buy each others' work. I've never felt _hurt_ by any critique from a DragonWriter.

THAT is what makes a good writers group, and if more people were able to find a group with that kind of chemistry, there would be a lot less complaints about them at conventions.

What is it that works with all of your writing groups? What defines a "good" writing group for you?