Monday Questions: Groups and other contacts
Okay, so I know most of you spend your days hidden in the attic, drinking black coffee, not even remembering what the sun looked like as you desperately add to you wordcount, but today we want to hear the other side of it; how do you connect with other writers. Aside from kiwiwriters, are you a member of groups, in real life or online? Do you have friends you share work with? Taken any creative writing courses?
i live in a rural area and struggle to find like minded people (in fact people who get me are a real problem...) who enjoy writing is hard, so I connect with people over the net. Through KiwiWiters and SpecFicNZ I have met several people who are influential in my writing, and I critique for them, they critique for me, and it works well.
I really do wish I could discuss my writing face to face with someone, to have someone understand the same frustrations that I have and empathise with someone who is struggling to find the right words.
Yay, Monday questions! I did an MA in creative writing before I moved to NZ, which was brilliant for meeting other writers and brilliant for my writing full stop. I still swap work with a friend from the course, which is really helpful. Here, all my writerly contact is through kiwi writers, which has been really helpful. I keep thinking about blogging, but haven't taken the plunge yet!
Suppose I'd better get mine in before I post the next question :D
I've been a member of a number of IRL writing groups over the years - my current active one is Readstrange which sort of grew out of one of the two undergraduate papers I did at Victoria.
Whilst she doesn't write herself my partner edits a lot of my work and I have a few friends I swap writing ideas with, as well as a couple of online groups I participate in - I make a lot of my contacts through Twitter.
I've met some amazing writer friends through KW, and I swap work with several of them, as well as several writers who I have met through blogging. I consider all of these people to be invaluable as they each bring something different to the table - different perspectives, different strengths in writing, unique ways of looking at the world and words.
I tried to get a face to face group going here, but there was never enough interest so I've given up on that for now! I did do some papers through Massey when I was studying, but never really made any connections with other writers - I don't think I was confident enough in what I was doing to feel like I could offer them anything in return.
Online, I mostly stick to blogging. I am a member at critters and might go back to that at some point, but KW is mostly where I hang out (when I have the time!). That said, SpecFicNZ is launching shortly and I'm very excited to see that get off the ground :-)
Writing: A bunch of short stories
J.C. Hart