So I went to the 'trial' meeting of my local writing group on Tuesday and I thought I'd share my thoughts and impressions with all my lovely readers!
To say I was nervous is an understatement! I spent most of Tuesday trying to think of reasons not to go. That's how nervous I was. It was the reading out of a sample of my writing bit that got me. I'm not very good at sharing my writing yet. oh sure, I've submitted some pieces and shared some on the blog but this was different. I was going to read out and have others comment while I was there. Scary or what? I spent far too long obsessing about what i was going to read. I bothered my wonderful friends over at Facebook as I worried about what I was going to read and they were a tower of strength and wisdom as always. Finally I decided on an extract from my novel. Now all I had to do was screw my courage to the sticking place and I'd be fine ...
I walked into town and convinced myself that everything would be ok. I'm not sure I believed myself but by the time I got to the venue I had decided that even if it turned out to be the worst 2 hours of my life it would make a good blog post! I was the first to arrive which gave me time to decide that if no-one arrived by 7.30 I'd have a stiff gin in a local pub and go home, never to think about writing groups again. But of course someone turned up and I had to bite the bullet.
Now as it was a 'trial' meeting I'm not sure if I'm in or not but at the moment I'm not worried about that. I got something valuable from the meeting, I felt like a real writer for a while and have so many ideas that I can write something different each day for a week!
So I now know the value of a writing group; it's a really supportive space where you can get great feedback and where ideas are born. I hope they liked me enough to let me join but if they don't I got something from that one meeting and I can live with that.
Well done you! It sounds like a great experience! You know, I'm not sure I've ever read my work out loud to a group of people either (well, apart from to my kids) and I think it's a whole different thing to submitting work and/or sharing on the blog - much scarier I think. Glad you got so much out of the experience. Thanks for linking to #WhatImWriting - I did think about you on Tuesday evening!
ReplyDeleteThat's wonderful! I know what you mean about being nervous. I get nervous having to show my work to my partner, let alone other people. I have to find the courage to attend because I know it would be so useful to have the support.
ReplyDeleteReally interesting to find out how it went. The what I'm writing group is great for support for me and I can imagine a regular physical meet-up would take that to another level. Hope you find out soon if you're in!
ReplyDeleteI think this is so brave of you and it sounds like you got a lot out of the experience. It's so much easier to publish on a blog, where there is a degree of anonymity. Much harder to read in person... Well done xx #whatimwriting
ReplyDeleteWell done for being so brave! It is a big step I think, and one that sounds like it could be very fruitful for you. I would love to be able to go to my local writer's group, but unfortunately it's at a time when childcare is impossible. One day!
ReplyDeleteWell done for going through with it and I think it's a good experience to read your work out to others, even if it is terrifying.
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