Groups for Writers

Searching for groups for writers? For Ohio, where we are listed, you might check out Freelance-Zone. If you can't find one, start it yourself. Here's an outline of what we encountered since 2003 with our writers' group.

Keep a history of your group. Time flies by and before you know it, years have passed and memories fade.

Current membership

Early on, start a spreadsheet file. Make sheet1 active members and move to inactive as necessary

How we started.

Groups for writers often have humble beginnings.

How we thrived

Word of mouth brings new members
Your bookstore will probably "plug" you in their publications
A good bookstore will be delighted to feature your groups' authors reading excerpts from their books.
Someone in your group inevitably will become a writing instructor and the members follow readily from his class

Where the 'sticking points' were

What works what doesn't
People we have lost and why we lost them - the exit interview

Critique of other writers is valuable

Different styles in different groups
Compare and contrast this group with others you may belong to

Learning to work within an organization with harmony - writers are opinionated

Dealing with attrition
Dealing with egos
Dealing with alternative expectations

Fun-looking forward to Mondays is a commonly expressed sentiment

Mentoring others

Marketing ideas
Manuscript correction

Finding out how others do research
Companionship
Synergy of things you wouldn't have thought of yourself
Opportunity to meet authors both within and without the group

Keeps your volume of writing on track-gives encouragement to the artistic process, larger works are often very slow to be completed

Run workshops on learning computer skills for the writer

Tips and tricks

Put an 'xx' in your document where you need more research or a fact check so you don't interrupt your muse
Use a concordance program to see your word frequencies. Pay special attention to your adverbs - are there too many? Are they weak?

New software that helps

Develop your own list -

Groups for Writers
Alerts you to your strong points
Alerts you to your weak points
Intellectual stimulation resulting from doing research
Business information
You get an "attitude adjustment" when you share experiences with agents and publishers.

Proper format for different types of submissions
We learn this is a real business from those who've been there
We learn marketing techniques for when the book is ready

media lists we've assembled
we produce our own graphics materials

shelf talkers
sellsheets
media kits

Information about different ways to get in print

Paid and unpaid
Fiction and non-fiction
Opportunity to spin off a subproject that leads to publication

Our group did a limerick book, The Pocket Book of Limericks
Possibly, anthologies or essays - we're doing one now about a "life-changing" event. It's great to skip over the hurdles with a committee. Groups for writers can accomplish this from their pooled resource.

Low cost alternative to a formal writing class - one group in our area charges $750/quarter - ours is a token $1 "mad money"

Auxiliary opportunities for speaking engagements or teaching gigs
Make connections with agents and publishers, especially local ones, who are happy to come and talk to groups
Learn about upcoming seminars and workshops - in our group, Joanne and Mary are on top of this.

The proof is in the pudding

Who has since been published?

Keep a bibliography of your group's books
Buy a copy of new publications from your group for your "my authors" shelf. Don't forget to have each one autographed.