Why Joining A Writing Group Makes You a Star!

November 18, 2018 marked 10 wonderful years with my writers’ critique group members (L. Trovillion, M. Paris and S. Yanguas) aka “The Talented Scribes.” We celebrated by having dinner at a nice restaurant and reminisced about how we started and how far we have grown as writers.

Although we write in different genres of fiction (e.g. romantic suspense, young adult, chick lit) and non-fiction, we have garnered collective strength through our love of writing. We support and cheer each other on throughout the highs and lows of our writing while still having fun.

So, when I recently taught the workshop “Why Joining a Writing Group Makes You a Star!” at the Black Authors and Readers Rock Weekend in Oxon Hill, MD (September 14 – 15, 2018), I didn’t have to look too far for inspiration.

Here are the 7 reasons I shared with the audience why joining a writing group makes you a star:

1. Motivation

a. As writers we tend to want to stay in our comfort zone until we get motivated to see that magic happens in our creative projects.

2. Inspiration

a. Sometimes we get stuck and we can’t put our pens to paper. It helps to be in a group that inspires us to generate or spark an idea to get our creative juices flowing again.

3. Support & Encouragement

a. Writing is a very solo thing to do. However, when we get together we support and encourage each other in a collective way.

4. Achieve our writing goals

a. We all have writing goals to finish the next project, to start a creative work, etc. However, when you are in a group you can get ideas how to accomplish these goals via organizing ideas, reviewing details, etc.

5. Hone new skills

a. Nothing beats when collectively you learn about creating a rough draft, proof reading, editing, etc. to get us on the way to publishing. Sometimes, these are things that folks didn’t think they can do.

6. Networking

a. This has to be my favorite part as I enjoy going on road trips with my group to various writing conferences/events and networking with other creative folks.

7. Constructive Criticism

a. Providing valuable feedback is a great thing. And one thing for sure, we come through for each other every single time to polish and make our work sing.

I am blessed to have a group of ladies that gel so well and I look forward to many more years of writing, inspiring, and supporting each other.

Here are a few photos from our Christmas gathering on December 18, 2018. We were missing a member who was delayed due to a volunteer commitment but we’ll get her next time!

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