First Event

[spryng]

As promised, I attended the writer's group panel yesterday. No wonder I've never made it to one before -- by early afternoon my resolve was flagging tremendously, because the kids were just So Much and I didn't want to leave my wife on her own with them. Thankfully, having set the intention earlier in the month *and* informed my wife of it, I couldn't back out as easily.

So I went. And the kids were fine. My wife was fine.

The panel itself was interesting. More like an actual meeting for the organization, plus a short talk. I had to find my resolve again when I arrived, because it was mostly folks of retirement age and the last time I attended a writer's group with that kind of make-up, they were all just writing memoir and I felt very out of place. But I chastised myself, because even if they are, so what? And who was I to not still try to get to know them? Or assume that none of them wrote fiction?

Turns out, many are writing fiction, *and* they're starting up a new SFF group, too. Plus I learned a few things from the talk and ended up finally -- after three years living here and never actually doing it -- signing up to be a member. I'll give it a year and see how it goes.

Part of the problem is I feel weird sauntering into an established community as a published author. And part of *that* is because I've been approaching this with a "what can I get out of this?" kind of attitude, which is... not great. It wasn't until I started thinking about what I can give *back* that I thought, ok. Maybe I should be involved here. They have a mentorship program; I can mentor. They have critique pods; I can critique. I can't give a lot, but... I can give a little and, well, that's a start.

The next event is the Silent Book Club. Looking forward to meeting some fellow readers. :)

Comments

[mrissa]

Yes go go go

[dreamsrundeep]

That's so great! Yay for you going! And for realizing that you can, indeed, leave your wife with the kids and all three of them will stay live while you are gone. I think that's a normal parenting pull. Nicole has to remind me that it is valuable for the kids to see us going to do things independently, meeting new people, and pursuing our passions because we would want the same for them someday.