Get Thee a Writing Group!

I think the single, most important thing I have done in my writing world is to be in a writing group.

From the first time I watched Aliens (no idea why this lit the spark, but it did) when I was about twelve, I've wanted to write awesome stories. Stories that “got” people like Aliens captured me. Action, suspense, a bit of romance, more action, aliens, men in uniform (not needed, but definitely a bonus), terror . . . all of it.

The first few attempts shall remain scratched on papers that will only see the light of day when some poor sap has to go through my “stuff” after I die. You may want to just burn it all.

I thought about stories a lot. And for a long time I had one set of characters that I would just randomly write cool scenes using. I called them random acts of fiction. Man could I write a scene! However, stringing them together didn't work at all. Plot. That's all I'll say about that.

Six or seven years ago (perhaps I should have the exact date in my notes—life changing and all that), a friend of mine said she wanted to start a writing group. I said I would join. Six of us got together and started the Accidental Metaphors, or Metaphors for short.

We met for a year or two, can't remember really, before people got married and moved away. Stupid real life.

But in a strange way, I owe pursuing writing to this little group. We only wrote short stories, which I'm not very good at, but it brought me into the world of being accountable for the words I put on a page.

I've come a long way since that group, but the beginning of my story I owe to them!

So get yourself a writing group. Writing buddies. Dudes to hang out with and talk about writing over milkshakes. Whatever. It will help. And you'll figure out real quick if you care enough about writing to pursue it at this juncture of your life. Next month could be a different world.