How to have a great writer’s group:
1. Good writers. This sounds cruel, but it’s best to pick your folks carefully and with a goal in mind. Keep it small, too. We have six, which I think should be the max. It helps to have a specific genre in mind (a lot of ours is memoir, but we have a poet as well. We’ll keep him though).
2. Expectations. At our last meeting we went around and said what we wanted from the group. Some of us wanted big picture on a work in progress. Others wanted input on smaller works. Some of us are just deer in the headlights and aren’t sure (me). It’s good to know what people want in advance.
3. Cats. Lots of cats. Dogs are good too.
4. Cute little girls who run in and out of the room.
5. Pie!
It’s always super difficult for me to drag myself out of the house after working all day but this group is always worth it. It makes me want to bring something I’ve written, and it helps to be with people who get it. We always take a summer hiatus, but summer here is hard to pin people down. There is just too much to explore and discover. Winter is good for writing. And pie.