Writer's Group- went well!

[tarotgal]

OMG it went so well!! The numbness in my cheek/mouth wore off an hour before, thankfully, and I was able to eat before I went (it's from 7:30-9pm) The woman I "bonded" with last week was there (she has the same name as me, but we have different nicknames) and the person who runs it was there, obviously, but everyone else was different or new.

I was really nervous- I don't read out loud well at all but I was brave and went first since no one else jumped at the chance. I warned everyone about the "gay" subject matter and offered not to read it if anyone was sensitive to it. Everyone laughed and said they didn't mind. Then I said there wasn't any adult content and they all laughed again and acted depressed about that. LOL So I had no reason to spend the last few days worrying. Whew!

I read little bits and asked my questions and got good feedback. Really good feedback. Gods, it's good to get feedback, isn't it? I still have my main problem of points of view switching- but they said not to worry about that. And they seemed to think it worked well as part of a series... except that I want it to sort of be a standalone so that makes me sad. *sad panda*

Still, I feel SO much better about the story than I did before reading it tonight. And I got a lot of feedback about parts they liked. (And no one made fun of Sweetie's name, thank goodness!) Woman-who-has-the-same-name-as-me asked me "out of curiousity, why did you choose to write about gay guys?" Whoa. Is that a loaded question or what? LOL I rambled off some answer about how the characters just pop into my head and that's who they were. She said she keeps picking up books that she likes that end up being about gay guys and I was thinking "Man, I wish I could ask her which books those were!"

But we had a good mix. My story section, a few pages of historical fiction, a long segment of a science fiction story, and then some new ideas for reality television shows (to be submitted to a writing contest). AND all women tonight. So that was cool and... comfortable, I guess.

MAN I feel so inspired after these meetings, too! Makes me wish I wrote better stuff. Not that I get a choice about what I write... and I'd NEVER give up on fanfic... but it inspires me to try other things, you know? I just wish my muses could decide what they want me to say through the stories they want me to write :-)



I know Wednesdays are supposed to be the days I work on the sneezefic archive and such, but I don't think I'm going to manage an update tonight. I'm EXHAUSTED and you all are writing WAY too much. LOL Stop writing so I can get it all archived, people! ;-) No, really, I LOVE that so many stories are being posted lately. I'm just saying I probably won't get them on the archive until next week. Though I'll do some more coding tonight, for sure.

Comments

[symphonyflute.livejournal.com]

YAY! Congratulations!

[tinadp.livejournal.com]

Glad the dentist went well and you were able to go to the group. I'm glad you were able t get fb too, I would never have the nerve to read anything I wrote. Though that's because all I can write is fluffy SF! :)

I have to honestly say though that I consider you to be a true WRITER, and that would be the difference. I really love your stuff, not just the SF too. You are truly talented.

[smokeycat-430.livejournal.com]

I'm happy for you and your new insurance. Your writing group sounds like fun and I'm glad you're enjoying that as well. Hope you get a lot out of it.

My grandmother took a writing group/class at a local community center a couple of months ago and got frustrated because she was the oldest person in the class. She want's to write a book about her experiences growing up on a farm in Oregon. A lot of people in her class didn't know English very well and no one in her class knew anything about or cared about farms. LOL I'm glad you're class seems to be going better!

[tarotgal]

One of the "back again after many months away" women in the group tonight writes the history of her family. They've lived in a town since the 1700's and she spends lots of time researching and writing about the experiences family members have had (creative nonfiction). Some are her own, and some are based on oral histories, and some on partially written histories. Apparently everyone currently in the town with her last name has recently been traced back to her family. I find it fascinating. She didn't share anything this time... but maybe next :-)

Your grandmother's experience- that's very unfortunate. So sad that they couldn't encourage her choice of subject matter. That sounds like a book I'd definitely read. I think more people should write things like that. I was always so desperate to hear stories from my grandparents- and now that they're gone, so many experiences went with them. It's so sad. There's so much we can learn and experience from memoirs. I wish her luck!

[smokeycat-430.livejournal.com]

I love to hear stories about my family. My maternal grandfather (the grandmother I was talking about's deceased husband) was an amateur genealogist among other interesting hobbies. He wrote a ten volume set of books about his family history going all the way back to the Crusades. My mother has always had an interest in the subject as well but hasn't had the time or the resources that her father had but had recently been trying to get back into the groove so to speak and start looking in to things again.

The thing is that I know more about my grandfather's life and family more than my grandmother's because of his books. Because of this I've been really encouraging my grandmother to write her book. I, for one, would read it!