Group Dynamics Redeem Themselves
Turns out joining a group can be fun!
I never had much experience with the benefits of group membership as a child. The groups I was acquainted with were the unpleasant sort. The kind which incorporated mean kids and ruled the playground with an iron fist.
But as an adult, I have slowly come to understand how helpful a group can be both as a social bridge and a professional aid. Which is why I have become such a fan of the writing community and the groups which it forms.
At Rhode Island Romance Writers monthly meetings, I’ve received advice on writing, branding and marketing skills. Just as important, I’ve been able to meet a group of actual writers who, it turns out, are amazingly friendly.
As part of attending the Boston area romance writers conference, I joined New England Chapter of Romance Writers of America (NECRWA). At the conference I had the chance to meet several of the members. They too have been uniformly welcoming and helpful.
The NECRWA conference itself was an extraordinary experience. On a professional level, I was exposed to in depth information on the business of writing and selling books I wouldn’t normally have had access to. But the social aspect, again, took me by surprise.
I made friends.
I don’t know if this is a function of the groups I am meeting, but I’ve been blown away by a universal camaraderie. Experienced authors share information and advised rank beginners with a notable and laudable spirit of generosity. Fellow beginners share their knowledge, secure in the sense that this experience is not about competition but about lifting each other up.
Someday, I will attend the big one – the Romance Writers of America conference. I don’t know whether I will find the same level of welcoming friendliness there, but I think it’s possible.
If there is one thing I’ve learned about writers since I started meeting them, it’s that we all have the same hill to climb and we have to climb it again every day.
This takes a lot of the hierarchy out of writers’ groups.
Because even a million dollar writer starts out every morning the way she did when she first began – staring at a blank sheet and hoping the words will come easy today.
Rose Grey has written three romance novels and is hard at work on a fourth. Wednesday is generally book review day. Unless it isn’t. If you liked this post, come visit the rest of the blog at www.rosegreybooks.com. Hot Pursuit and Not As Advertised are available as ebooks and as paperbacks online.
