The Importance of a Writing Group

I've talked about writing groups in the past, but I wanted to reiterate their importance once again for any new blog followers who came on in the past few months.

When I was young and first writing, I didn't think writing groups were necessary. Why would I want to take time away from my own writing to review and critique other people's work. Also, if I didn't find a group that wrote solely within my genre, why bother? They're not going to know the subtle nuances I'm trying to achieve.

And then I joined a writing group.

I was 18 when I attended my first group session. It was a face-to-face session attended by roughly 3-4 different members every month. We shared pages a few weeks prior and then brought our notes for each other to some coffee shop here or there around Wisconsin.

There wasn't a single writer in that group that also wrote YA.

I absolutely loved it.

Sure, they might not have known everything about the YA genre, just as I sure as heck didn't know that much about memoirs at the time, but what young me had failed to notice is that I was surrounded by other serious writers. These were writers who put their fingers to the keys and plugged out pages of content every month for other serious writers to read. I grew in my knowledge of the craft in general  and I made some amazing friends.

Now that I've moved cross-country, I've joined another writing group (by the prodding of one of the original Wisconsin face-to-face members) that takes place entirely online. Rather than meeting for coffee, we have monthly quotas to fill (2 submission and 4 critiques per month) that keep all of us plugging away at our work. We stay in contact through email and Facebook and the occasional bi-yearly get together somewhere in the USA.

This format of a writing group has also helped me exponentially. Not only does the online format offer writers from all over the world membership, but it also allows me to read a variety of genres. I get feedback from a diverse group of readers and I give my own unique feedback to them.

Also, when I'm having a rough month and am unable to find time, energy, or inspiration to write, it helps to simply sit down with my laptop and a mug of tea and read the work of my writing group companions.

They inspire me to go back to my own work.

They help me improve that work.

Basically, writing groups are important because they force us to be who we are: writers.

I suggest, no matter your age, that you find a group that fits you. It may take a little while, but don't be discouraged, once you have them, you can never let them go.