Vacation

Starting on vacation today. Some travel and rest but will keep notes for my Hillerman "shopping cart". It'll be about a month before I post here again.

It hasn't been as easy as it sounds to write often. But the key remains that if you want to be a writer, write. While I'm enjoying the sun, the ocean, other cultures, and seeing beautiful places, can you write every day for a month? Write anything, any number of words, any focus or no focus, just as long as it is everyday.

Writing more than anything else is a matter of doing.

Have fun. Enjoy the journey. jim

Writing Groups

Writing Groups

Writers’ groups can be lots of help, inspiration, and encouragement. Finding the right group for you may not be easy. The only way I know is by trial and error. Even in groups that may be more social than intense writing, you meet other writers and wannabes. There is always the possibility of connecting with a kindred spirit apart from the group to read each other’s work.

If you have a university near you, they often have short courses or enrichment courses, or community outreach courses in beginning writing. This can be a great way to start with a moderated critique group and to get some teacher feedback too.

Finding and choosing writing buddies or readers is a real art that depends a lot on different personalities and luck. Joining local writing groups, taking community enrichment courses at the local university, or even joining an on-line group are all possible ways to find other writers. Going to seminars and writing conferences can help connect you. A caution here to go slowly. If the group or writing buddy isn’t making you feel good about your writing, then keep looking. You’re not looking for false praise, but your group or writing buddy should energize you.

RUNNING NAKED IN THE FOURTH OF JULY PARADE

As you start to critique others, you learn more about how people read and look at your work. After you grow out of writer’s adolescence and the sensitivity to criticism and the need for validation subsides, you will find another very real problem.

Just as we are proud of ourselves to be able to let the praise and the criticism stay in perspective, we realize that our work reveals more about ourselves than we ever imagined, like running naked in the Fourth of July parade. Why would anyone want to do that? I sure don’t.

Maybe there is no solution to that. Perhaps it’s like getting a medical exam, just something you endure. Perhaps it’s more like a fan dancer, just keep moving the fans fast enough, nobody will notice or know what really is being revealed. Perhaps it’s like being in the Garden of Eden, everyone accepts it for what it is. Public writing is not like private writing and it may not be for everyone.

Writers, write. Write, right now.