Writers Groups

Dear Reader,


It has been almost eight years since I was a student at Taylor University here in Fort Wayne, Indiana. There wasn't anything particularly remarkable about the school, but for me, it held a community I've longed for ever since. Writers.


Taylor was a place where I met, befriended, and learned from writers of various creeds and skill levels. Before that, I was part of a creative writing program in high school, and before that, I didn't know I had an affinity for writing. So, for almost a decade I was surrounded by like-minded individuals who shared my same passion for the written word.


Then, in 2009, Taylor University closed its doors. I took a year off, enrolled in a local college, got my teaching degree, and started teaching. I met, befriended, and learned from teachers of various creeds and skill levels. But I wasn't writing. The one thing I loved more than anything else, the one thing I would have given up almost anything for, was gone. I had papers to write for school. I had books to read for school. I had tests to take for school. Then I was teaching, and we all know how much time that can take up.


It was a little more than a year ago that my wife and I saw an episode of the popular YouTube channel Vlogbrothers wherein they introduced their new project, a storytelling convention called NerdCon: Stories. My wife and I thoroughly enjoyed watching Hank and John Green's videos, and when we heard about the convention, we decided to give it a shot.


NerdCon was held in Minneapolis and was the most hectic weekend of our lives. In the process of our travels, we met a cool person and strong writer, Mary Robinette Kowal (yes, that is her book I am currently reading on the right). She introduced us to a podcast she is on called Writing Excuses. If you are a writer, you need to listen to this podcast. I will provide the link at the bottom of this post. In the year that followed, I have listened to most of their episodes, albeit some of them multiple times. One thing they kept talking about was having a writing group. I had finished a novel and was looking for some alpha readers. I needed a writing group.


So, I searched. And I searched. And I searched some more. I even attempted to form one online, but I didn't have any takers. Then, somehow I stumbled across a local group that meets a few times a month. This group had a good mix of men and women, old and not that old, quiet and boisterous. I have only attended one meeting so far, but it became quite clear to me that I am going to meet, befriend, and learn from writers of various creeds and skill levels. It is a part of me that has been missing. Stephen King has said that one should write with the door closed and rewrite with the door open. My door is open, and I am excited to finally share my writing with like-minded individuals who share my same passion for the written word.


Here is the link to the podcast:
www.writingexcuses.com


Speak freely. Write candidly. Read endlessly.

WIP

Dear Reader,

Earlier this year I reached a milestone I was afraid I would never reach. I finished my first book. It is a rough draft in need of much revision, but I got it done. It is a great feeling to finish a project, especially for me. I tend to either start something and stop after a while because I get bored, or I get near the end and don't finish because I am afraid of finishing. I am afraid of having nothing to write. What if that is the only story I have inside of me? What if the next thing I try to write isn't as good? What if I like what I have written but nobody else does? These questions haunt me. I even wrote a poem about it:

END

What provokes the human mind
is our misunderstanding of ourselves;
it is irony that yields our thoughts
as we misinterpret our destiny.
We will always see two things,
our answers to our present future:
a problem and a solution.
We ask for a problem,
only to find a solution.
When our solution is concluded, we lose
our challenge.
Looking forward is no longer a goal,
for it is nothing;
but to look back brings us once again to
the problem.
There is no end to a beginning of an end,
which some find senseless.
The only thing worse than the problem,
is the end.

Although I wrote that in high school, it is something I still struggle with today. Fortunately, the act of finishing something has eased that burden somewhat.

I am now on my second book, and I feel about 150% better about it than my first, even though I am only two chapters in. My fear of endings is still ever present, but having finished something makes it that much easier to continue. I am wondering if there are any other writers out there who struggle to finish a piece of writing for the same or similar reasons. Please let me know if you do and how you handle it.

Speak freely. Write candidly. Read endlessly.