This past weekend, I was wandering around Old Town Manassas, in Virginia, looking for dessert when I peeked in Grounds Central Station, a cute, independently owned coffee shop.
Two young men manned the coffee bar, while the back half was full. Tables were pushed together, to make a long table with a microphone on one end. A well-dressed middle-aged man talked, his booming voice and steady tones were reminiscent of a sermon. I turned to the baristas and asked,
“Is this a Bible study?”
“Poetry reading.”
I picked out my dessert and waited patiently, listening in as the speaker finished and a new one began. But, to my ear, it was prose, not poetry that I heard.
At the end of the counter sat several pamphlets. The one nearest me was from Write By The Rails, the Prince William Chapter of the Virginia Writer’s Club. In it, it told me that tonight, a 4th Friday, was Open Mic Night and Saturday afternoons from 2-4pm were write-ins. I assume the barista explained it as a poetry reading because it was faster. Everyone knows what a poetry reading is.
I’ve done NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), but I’ve never done a Writer’s Group. I’ve seen some writers swear by theirs, while others turn catty or stagnant.
Should I stick with my beta readers? Join this group? Or try and custom build my own private writing group?
What would you do?
WRITING TIPS & WRITERLY MUSINGS 