One good thing (in addition to the lack of an hour's commute each way) about my new job is that it allows me to go back to my writer's group, Wordos, after a long hiatus. I'm looking forward to it very much.

It's weird, kinda, how attached I've grown to the group, when a couple of years ago, I was barely part of any writing group at all. A year or so before I joined Wordos, I belonged to a writers group nearer home, and it was good for what it was--a bunch of dedicated writers, none with any published work, doing their best to make themselves published. The main problem was, we met every other week, and stories to be critiqued were handed out the session before hand, but we only allowed two stories to be critiqued per session, and the waiting list was looooong for critiques, often a half a year or more.

Before that, in Baker City, I was a member of "The Attic," a group comprised mainly of octogenarians writing family memoirs or poetry, and who (for some reason) didn't "get" my stories. I mean, werewolves and quests in the City of Plinth . . . what's not to get?

Then, before I left Massachusetts, I belonged to a fledgling writer's group started by a good friend. The membership fluctuated greatly every week, ranging from two to ten people. It had little structure. People arrived, read their tales aloud or handed them out, no more than five pages at a time, and then if anyone wanted to comment, they could. And then the next person would go until we'd run out of people who wanted to share or run out of time. The focus was mainly, in many respects, on giving pats on the back.

Wordos, on the other hand, is highly structured, with time limits for comments, although very few word or page limits, and the focus is on publication. There are prizes (like chocolate!) for submitting work, and prices (like trophies!) for selling, celebrating the bad news and the good. Each week, we crit up to six stories, and there's rarely any waiting time to submit. From this group, I've learned quite a lot about writing merely from critiquing, and having members who're well respected and well versed in the field helps. We've had speakers give talks, and editors of popular Mags come visit, and for many of these, it doesn't hurt to put "Member of Wordos" in your cover letter. It's a friendly group, too, with an active online group list, and no matter what issues you have with writing or submitting or publishing, there's always someone willing to lend an ear, hand or pen.

Glad to be going back!