Why Join a Writing Group?
You’ve done a course, keep writing when you can at home, sit there at the keyboard typing word after word, creating characters, telling stories, escaping into the world of your imagination – and somewhere out there other writers are doing exactly the same thing. Writing is a way of communicating, expressing your ideas, connecting with readers – all hard things to do if you’re writing on your own. So why not connect?
Being a part of Writers’ Group is a great way to keep yourself inspired, learn new techniques, have an audience for your work, get feedback if you want it and simply share the ups, the downs and the love of writing. Whether you hope to have your work published one day or whether you want to write for yourself, or a more select audience, meeting up with other writers can help to keep you on track. Two of the biggest problems people have with keeping up their writing are a lack of time and lack of discipline. As far as lack of time goes, you do have the time if you choose to make it. Being a member of a group can help you over come both of these problems. Even if you only write when the group meets, at least you’ll be writing. What usually happens though is you’ll do some writing in between, either because you’re more motivated or because you have “homework”. In a group you’ll find the encouragement and support that you can only get from other writers, others who know how hard and how exhilarating writing can be. I’ve been a member of a writing group myself for almost 4 years now. There are 13 of us so we call ourselves The Writers’ Dozen. We meet on a fortnightly basis to read our work, write, share stories, celebrate publishing successes and commiserate when rejection letters arrive in the mail. In September we’re launching our own anthology of short stories and poetry, something we wouldn’t have dreamed of when we first started. A writing group, will only thrive if each of the members makes a commitment to showing up, contributing and being supportive. You don’t have to become bosom buddies (although there’s a good chance you will). It’s important to make the writing a priority when you do meet so that it doesn’t turn into a social club; it’s also important to keep the focus on the writing rather than the personality behind it. If anyone is interested in joining a Writer’s Group I’d be happy to put you in contact with each other, help you get started and find a place to meet. There’s also the alternative of sharing work over the net but you’ll probably want to meet up first.
Just e-mail me: pamela@justwrite.net.au
Happy Writing!
Gone
Imagine walking in the door to find your child has vanished? It’s every parent’s worst nightmare and the subject of a new memoir by Sydney writer, Margaret Wilcox. Gone tells the story of Margaret’s long search for her daughter after her abduction – not by a stranger but by Margaret’s husband, Hadi.
As a young woman Margaret meet and falls in love with Hadi, a debonair Libyan, who sweeps her off her feet. They marry and live a fairytale life in Spain, until their daughter Tanya is born and Hadi becomes so controlling that Margaret can no longer stay with him. She flees to London but is pursued by Hadi who takes their three year old child and disappears.
Gone traces the journey that Margaret embarks on in the hope of finding her daughter. It tells of the uncaring bureaucracies and clumsy legal systems that insist that when it comes to child custody, possession is nine-tenths of the law.
In this unforgettable and moving story Margaret recaptures the events and the emotions of the 14 long years it took her to find Tanya. She wrote the book so Tanya would better understand Margaret’s side of the story. Together they decided to publish the book, to raise awareness of Parental Child Abduction, which is a huge world wide problem and to highlight the lack of help available to parents who find themselves in this ghastly situation.
This is Margaret’s first book, written over two and a half years. Her advice to those who one day hope to be published? “Do as many courses as you can, but be selective. Write every single day. Never give up.”
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