Writers' Groups are often listed in your local "Yellow Pages", posted in libraries, published in writers' magazines or announced in bookstores. They can also be found on line.
If you don't have a Writers' Group in your area, why not start one? Run an ad in your local newspaper or place a notice in the library.
Meetings can be rotated around members' homes and held as informally or formally as you wish.
When I belonged to the Exeter & District Writers' Club in Devon, England, the meetings were held in a community hall every third Saturday morning in the month. It was run as many associations are, with appointments of officers and notices to members. However, your writers' group can be just a little meeting of friends.
Members should be invited to share with the others any new markets they've recently discovered. Studying the markets is an imperative part of a writer's routine.
I remember at one Exeter meeting a member announced she'd come across an unusual new market. A car tire magazine was looking for short humorous fiction. When I got home after the meeting, I dug out a short story I'd had no success with - a satirical tale about an uncaring dentist (I was having problems with my teeth at the time!).
I retyped the story, which had been back and forth to various publications and looked a little worse for wear, then sent it off to the tire publication.
A few weeks later, I received a small cheque in the mail. The tire magazine had accepted my dentist story, but I never saw it in print as they didn't send me a tear sheet and none of us in the club had any idea where to obtain a copy of the publication (the tire magazine didn't reply to my repeated requests).
I often think of my dentist story out there somewhere in the world, stored with someone's garage junk or hidden in an attic! Lesson: Get a sample copy of the publication and find out where issues can be obtained before submitting your work.
My Exeter Club had a Christmas party every year and brainteasers or quizzes were a regular feature. This can be fun for some but not for all, so always give your members a choice when offering these kinds of activities.
It's up to you whether or not to charge a monthly or annual fee for membership in your writers' group. If it's just a small group and you have no overhead expenses, I feel you shouldn't charge anything. However, if you have to pay guest speakers, rent a meeting place or have other club expenses, then a membership fee would be appropriate.
Don't forget to take into account the cost of any stationery, if you use your own electricity at home to type agendas or minutes, or if refreshments are served.
Each writer should bring something they wrote to the meeting and read part of it for their fellow members' critique (criticism should be constructive though, not cruel). Reading your work aloud, along with market discussion, should always be a prerequisite in a writer's group. Also, you may not be particularly interested in another writer's chosen genre, but it's only courteous to listen attentively, just as you would expect them to listen closely to what you've written.
After all, you may learn something, and that's a major part of what a
writers' group is all about - sharing, learning, growing and producing.
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