99 New: Five Reasons to Join a Writers Group

After two or three months off, I went back to Red Oak Writing tonight to a new writers workshop. It had been a long, busy, complicated day that included writing an essay about an experience I had several years ago when I was an advocate for a kid in foster care. It tangled me up for a while but then straightened out so I was glad to take it to be worked over by the group. I reflected on the way home about the advantages of joining a writers group.

1. You can’t very well show up to a writers group not having written anything. So that alone is a reason to join. Being a writer can mean endless lollygagging absent a deadline. A writers group meeting gives you that deadline. And you can’t show up with a piece of junk. There are expectations and that’s good discipline.
2. You have to show your work to people who don’t love you. Even if you are a prolific writer or blogger (ahem), you rarely encounter people who are critical of your writing. Writers in a writers group are there for that very purpose – to critique your work. They’re polite but they’re not there to make you happy. They’re there to make you a better writer.
3. You are expected to critically analyze other people’s work. This means that you can’t say “this is really great” or “I love this” too many times before you get looks from the more serious customers. What is it about the piece that is really great? And because people are bringing you their jewels, you have to be careful about assessing them. They’re going to make changes based on what you say so you can’t be lazy or cavalier. You have to really think.
4. You can grow a piece of writing. A writers group might look at a member’s essay two or three times as she works to incorporate their comments and build a stronger piece. Often, this means digging deeper into the meaning, becoming more honest, scraping the veneer, and creating a truer, more soulful piece.
5. You build your identity as a writer. A writers group makes you own your writing, you put your name on it, read it out loud, and listen to other writers’ advice. You’re not hiding somewhere in a dark room in front of your computer screen – you’re there with your pages and your physical, writing self. Writers go to writers groups. If you want to be with the folks who are writing and publishing and consorting with writers, that’s where they are. So go there and be one of them.