My Writing Group

I belong to a group of wonderful, warm, dedicated writers. I’m the quiet wit, sometimes. We’ve got an energizer, a mystic, a romantic, a comedienne, a poet and an animal lover. Actually, there’s a little of each in each of us. We’re just like any other writing group, except for one thing.

We’ve never met.

How do you form an amazing bond with people you’ve never met? It’s harder than it sounds. I’m a member of an online writer’s group. I have these dear friends and I’ve never seen their faces.

These writing friend have taught me more about the power of words than I could ever hope to learn from an in-person group. One misplaced word or comment, an unintentionally capitalized line, can be misunderstood so easily. You must take care or quips become barbs and smiles become frowns.

How do we get through it all? Love. Patience. Some temporary hurts. A lot of smiles. It’s only with these wonderful women that I sit in front of my computer and laugh so hard I’m afraid I’ll wet my chair.

And that’s when I learned the most important thing about writing groups. You need to communicate. Seems elementary?

It’s hard to remember sometimes. When you’re afraid. When you think they’ve forgotten you. When you think they’re against you.

But guess what? Ask a question and someone will answer. Share a success and someone will rejoice with you. Confide your fear and someone will hold your hand.

It’s the most wonderful thing, to connect the internet and know I’ll be greeted with a J. It’s great to know that even if I haven’t written today, I know someone who has. It’s gratifying to see that my feedback has helped one of my sisters bring her story nearer to perfection.

More on my writing sisters later, I promise.

Cheers!