Writer's Mayhem

There has been a lot of talk, but little action involving the writing world this past month. The fabulous Kay and I attended a writer's group meeting, where we were expected to analyze scenes in our favorite book and discuss why the scene works and how we can incorporate that element into our own writing. Sounded like a great idea at the time, but not so informative. Everything that was discussed was so oversimplified it blew my mind. Now, I know, I am a snob in the writing arena. Kay and I both are members of RWA and receive numerous perks thanks to our membership. And the things being discussed in this group are the basics covered in our monthly magazine, much less the workshops available at our fingertips. I could understand a beginner's group, except the ego mania and sycophants at this meeting. Once again my snobbishness will show with this statement, but I wouldn't be acting all uppity if I was self-published. Wait I wouldn't be self-published, not in the arena this person was hyping; the $1.00 menu publisher. It doesn't mean anything to those of us looking for a contract with a publishing company. And I understand the teacher bringing her books as examples, but not openly handing them out and offering to autograph. We recently distributed a book written by the amazing Dawne, who was shocked when people approached her for an autograph, so I wasn't impressed by the ego. But the final comment that made me decide never to return related to one of the workshop attendees, followed by the instructor making this comment, "based on samples submitted, I can tell who will never be published." Excuse me, if you read the complete crap I wrote a decade ago, you'd say the same about me, yet I've been published in my professional work and have vastly improved in my personal writing. This comment revolted me, especially as her loyal follower loudly agreed with the instructor. Enough said, we won't return to this group, which is fine since we have such an amazing group of our own.

The writer's group from our recent writing challenges met for dinner on Wednesday night. It was a raucous fun time. Some of the individuals have never socialized together, but the dynamic was intriguing. We each challenge each other in our writing endeavors, yet we cover the spectrum from fiction, romance, historical, research oriented, and personal memoirs. I'm so glad that Sarai insisted we get together. It was a welcome respite and motivator. Sarai mentioned she hadn't been writing the past month since we didn't have a challenge.

Which leads to the latest March Mayhem. Each of us are approaching our projects so differently this time around. Several individuals are looking for time to research their writing material, while others want to organize what they have, and some plan to count words, pages, and time spent. March will be an interesting time for our writing group as we continue forward in our pursuit.