Writer's Group ...

Psst ... so you know how I said they were starting a writer's group aound here that was going to meet every two weeks? Well, after a week at Kenyon I don't think I can go back.

I can't do it.

After a week listening to the fabulous instructor readings, the fellows' readings, the participants' readings ... I don't think I want to listen to the lovely, but unknowing old women's readings. I need to stay in my cocoon of wonderfulness and let it seep in. More importantly, let the wonderfulness seep into my own writing projects.

After sitting in workshop with Brad Kessler (author, Birds in Fall)can I really listen to the woman who wrote a Star Trek novel refer to herself as "your fearless leader" and talk about how she dislikes books on writing?

After the lovely (light and slightly eerie) stories of Melanie Haney, can I deal with the clunky work of sweet but senile women?

I heartily believe that 90 minutes of my morning would be better spent rewriting "Cake" so that it is firmly placed and doesn't give you that disjointed medicine-head feeling than if I went to the "writer's group."

So they're starting a writer's group ...

Word Count: 7087

So someone in the home owner's association here has decided she wants to start a writer's group. She moved to town in the past year or two and finds being a working writer lonely so she's making time and effort to bring together people to discuss and work on writing. Sounds lovely. She is former military and now a working writer; I get the impression that she wouldn't be able to live off of it if she wasn't married but bully to her for publishing at all.

Again, I am the youngest person in the group. At least this time there doesn't seem to be someone over sixty looking to scapegoat me for that reason.

Two of the older women want to work on writing their life stories and another woman is looking to write her family's stories so that's kind of all in the same bag. The woman putting this all together seems to write anything commercial and she's leaving everything else wide open for choice and interpretation. Right now, I have no idea what I'm going to bring to this group when we meet again in two weeks.

Although, I suspect that I'll take in something I started at the Kenyon Review Workshop and say hey where should I go with this? Maybe I'll even take in my bit about cooking and garlic from last year. Although that distinctly needs more dialog.

Or any dialog.

No, that's a lie, I think people talk. Twice.

Anyway. I didn't know what to expect when I replied to the advert in the home owners association newsletter, and to be completely honest I still don't know what to expect. At best (or worst) I'll probably only be in town for six meetings. This group will be one more thing to keep me writing. One more thing to scatter my word count wildly over a dozen projects and make me wonder if I will ever finish a decent novel.