Writer’s Group

Three writers, infinite support

Just back from a meeting with my writer’s group; I’m so happy for our vaccinated selves to be able to get together in person once again.

For a while there, I wasn’t a big fan of writer’s groups. I’d read something early on, I think it might have been from Fay Weldon, along the lines of “One day your editor will say yes or no and that’s the only opinion of your writing that you need.”

Officially, I was wrong. Although it did take me a few tries to find the right group, I’ve got to say that the benefits are huge. Among them:

• People to talk you out of your imposter syndrome.
• Accountability—you’ve got to write something for the meeting!
• People who adore your characters almost as much as you do.
• People who are not afraid to tell you straight up when your writing is getting boring or confusing.
• An excuse to buy a fancy coffee and a nice sandwich and a cookie.

My tips for a writer’s group that works:

• Find people who are about at the same level, professionally speaking. It can be discouraging if you’re still trying to sell your first book and somebody else is moaning about their agent or their reviews.
• Meet outside your house. Writers all spend too much time at home anyway, and nobody should be stressing about their writing AND about cleaning or setting out snacks.
• Pick a nice coffeeshop with big tables and not too much noise. (Our favorite coffeeshop did not survive the pandemic, alas, and we are still casting around for the best replacement.)
• Find nice people. The writing world is full of rejection, bad reviews, and a lot of indifference. If you can find a few people who’ll are genuinely pleased and excited to read what you write—don’t pass it up.