Writer's Groups

Writer's Groups

The novel has reached ten chapters and over 60k words, or about 180 pages. I'm now estimating that I will need another ten chapters to finish. I am strongly tempted to begin editing because this far into the book I'm starting to feel like I'm losing the connection with the earliest chapters. I'm trying to resist that because I think it best to keep moving forward and fix the disconnects later. But I don't really know for sure what the right approach is. I've never written anything this long before.

I think it's time for me to find some help. Of course, I've read innumerable things on the web, and gotten many good tips there. One of the things most often recommended is to join a writer's group. I did some research, and there are many writer's groups that meet in the San Diego area. There are two large organizations: the San Diego Writer's Group, and San Diego Writers, Ink. Frankly, neither got me excited. In an organization of that size, my natural inclination to stay in the background would restrict my participation. SD Writers, Ink, in particular, seems to appeal to writer's who are professionals and already publishing. Again, I would feel pretty lost.

Many of the smaller writer's groups were pretty eclectic (one called themselves the "anti-social" writers group) or had a narrow focus, such as poetry groups, or housewives only, etc, which slimmed down the list. Others looked good on their web site, but had no meeting schedule and did not seem to be active.

Then I came across a writer's group called Go, Be, Write!  The group's founder had a long list of Do's and Don'ts (mostly don'ts) on what type of writer or wannabe writer she was looking for to be in the group. The most obvious difference between this group and nearly every other group is that the group does not do readings. "Readings" are when writers get to together and read their work out loud in order to get comments and critiques. This is a common method for making improvements and learning techniques. Go, Be, Write!  does not like that method. Instead, the approach taken is more like a classroom, at least that's how I interpret it. The founder is a former teacher, and her group focuses on learning not only how to write better, but how to get published, find an agent, contracts, costs, getting paid, etc. These are all things I know very little about. Especially the getting paid part.

Many groups use an online service called Meetup. Most of the writer's groups I checked on use this service to arrange meetings. Go, Be, Write! (GBW) uses it, too. After I had set up an account with Meetup, I clicked the "Join Us" on the GBW website and was given some questions to fill out. There was the general questions about background, personal and professional, and some yes/no questions to make sure I had read the rules and that I was committed to attending the twice per month meetings. I also had to find a picture of me to post. No pictures of pets, sunsets, etc. A real picture, or no deal. The group's tag line does say "A Tough Love Writing Community." 

 I'm not sure what I'm getting myself into, but I know I need help if I want to continue to improve. I hope this is a good first step, and I'm excited about it.