Writers' Groups

I belong to a local chapter of Romance Writers of America. Most of my writing needs are met by this wonderful group of authors. I continue learning from the generosity of published authors such as Gayle Callen, Maggie Shayne, Mary Reed McCall, and Ellen Hartman (to name only a few). I fell in with a fantastic critique group through the chapter. We meet twice a month to plot, brainstorm, offer feedback and constructive criticism. The fantastic thing about a set critique group is the constancy. Crit partners know your story almost as well as they know their own. I love my crit group.

Last week, while researching a Writing Careers article for the Examiner, I stumbled across another local writing group through the online service MeetUp. I'd never heard of MeetUp, so was pleasantly surprised to find a community that isn't MySpace or Facebook. The local writing group is The Creative Writers' Cafe, and from what I can glean, they meet weekly in at a local supermarket's cafe. The organizer, Michael Canavan, is a former co-worker from several lifetimes ago. He tells me that " Everyone is welcome, negative attitude is not.  We are very supportive and our objective is to help each member achieve their own personal writing or publishing goals."

I joined the group. Unfortunately, they meet the same night as my twice-monthly critique group. But on the bright side, it seems there are actually two factions of the Creative Writers Cafe: the short story/poetry group and the novel writers. And the novel writers will be meeting this coming Thursday night, which is not one of my regular critique nights. If the weather stays manageable and I'm not too exhausted, I may check out this group of writers.


Stay tuned.