About My Writing Group
When Phil and I moved west to be near family, we also left other very dear family members and many longtime and much loved friends. I also left my longtime writing group, pictured here. Susan, Pat, and Rebecca have continued to meet, and we mail our work back and forth. In March, on my brief trip back to the east coast, we all met together once again. That meeting forced me to confront how much less satisfactory working through the mail is. I hope we can devise a more effective format for sharing and critiquing one another’s work long distance. Meanwhile, because I get a lot of questions from other writers about my writing group, I'm including some of the questions people pose most frequently about it as well as the answers I give.
* How did you get started?
We were all doctoral students at NYU, and Pat and Rebecca and I had taken a course in professional writing that evolved into a writing group after the semester ended. That group was fun, and it included many talented people. Our problem was that we had too much fun and too many people! We combined reading our work with enjoying wine and food. We didn't always get a lot of critiquing done. It was also very hard to find a night all seven of us could get together and a mutually convenient meeting place. Eventually this group disbanded although we all remain friends. Meanwhile Pat and Rebecca and I had to write doctoral dissertations. We had heard about the value of a dissertation support group, so we began to search for a fourth person in the hope of forming such a group. Rebecca and I had noticed a bright and sensitive woman in our dissertation proposal seminar and thought she might be a good candidate. She was Susan and she was interested, so Rebecca and I invited her to lunch with Pat to see if Pat approved. She did. That was in 1990. After we finished grad school we all kept on writing, so we kept on meeting.
* Are you all mystery writers?
No, I'm the only mystery writer. Pat is a poet, Rebecca conducts and writes up educational research, and Susan conducts and writes up psychological studies. However, Pat, Rebecca and I have about 60 years of experience as English profs among us and Susan is a psychotherapist. Pat, Rebbeca, and Susan are now or have been mystery readers just as we have all read some poetry, done some research, and written for academic readers.
* Why are you all women?
It just worked out that way. What's really important is that each of us is serious about writing and clear about what we want and don't want from the group. We all value the writing group. It has worked out well that we are all mid-life professional women who share many concerns and interests, but I can envision a successful group that includes a more diverse mix.
* Where and when do you meet?
We meet in an empty NYU classroom on Friday evenings about once a month. That's where the accompanying photo was taken. We schedule our meetings months ahead, in January, June and September. Occasionally during the summer we meet on another night of the week or earlier in the day. Our evening meetings begin at 6 and generally last between two and three hours. We try to stay on task and defer discussion of our endlessly fascinating personal and professional lives until later. When each of us has read what she brought and received feedback, we catch up on all the real life stuff over a glass or two of wine and a good meal in the Village.
* Do you have any ground rules? If so, what are they?
Here in no particular order are some of the rules that have evolved over the years:
1. Request what kind of feedback you wish. It's okay to read your work and ask that group members offer no feedback.
2. Make one copy of the piece you're reading for each of the other members of the group.
3. Try not to interrupt someone else's feedback to give your own.
4. If you have a very long piece (more than 25 pages, say), try to mail copies ahead of time. Otherwise, be prepared to read your work aloud.
5. If you have to miss a meeting due to serious illness or an emergency, let at least one other person in the group know.
6. Every so often take stock to be sure that everyone is satisfied with the way the group is working.
7. Draw up a meeting schedule in January, June, and September.
8. You don't have to have something written for every meeting. You can "talk through" a project or problem and get suggestions.
9. Feedback may be written and/or oral. It should always be respectful. Each author chooses what feedback to heed and what she will ignore.
10. You may bring writing of all sorts. We bring everything from query letters and synopses, to letters of recommendation and applications for grants, tenure, and promotion as well as our current writing projects.
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