When I founded the Spokane Fiction Writers Group in the spring 2010 I never imagined I would still be managing it almost eight years later. But here I am, still organizing and scheduling and taking calls from members of the group between our monthly meetings. After eight years, has it been worth it? The short answer is yes. It’s been one of the enjoyable missions I have ever undertaken and I have reaped benefits too numerous to recount in this short blog.
As Organizer of the SFWG, I have the privilege of meeting and working with some of the finest members of our literary community in the Inland Northwest. The experience of participating in energetic debate and extensive review of stories written by our members has helped me advance my craft, my art, to a level I would not have achieved working alone.
Having my work reviewed by fresh eyes, other than my own, that can see nuances of prose or formatting issues that become blurred to an author after they have written draft after draft as they pursue their own version of perfection of story has been invaluable to me. Being a part of the writers group has made me a more observant critic of my own writing. I am a better writer because the group has pushed and prodded me towards the long path of the endless journey to writing better stories.
In the coming months I will be recounting some of the challenges, errors, and, oh yes, successes I have experienced with the SFWG. I hope my readers will find something in the blog that helps them achieve the level of writing they desire. I will be sharing many personal experiences about my writers group and how we dealt with challenges and kept the enthusiasm level as high as we possibly could.
I will tell you about the writing projects we have accomplished, how many hopeful writers we have seen mature into published authors. I will tell stories of how much courage it takes a new writer to write the first word of a book and how much more courage it takes to publish it.
I will try to answer questions about managing a writers group from any of my readers that contact me. You can get in touch by going to the Contact page of my website and sending me a message. This is the first blog I am publishing on my website, I welcome you to follow my future blogs and let me know what you think. I’ll promise I will always listen and try to reply.
Until next time, I’ll leave you with what I share with all the new members of my group, “Write every day. Whether a little or a lot, write every day.” If you do, you will become a better writer.
