Good Leaders

Met with my WA group today (Writers Ink) and had a ball. It is such a joy to be with women who are devoted to writing. Stirs the creative juices.

Cheryl, our erstwhile leader, is awesome. She always brings articles to the meeting that are appropriate for us, individually or as a group. She ruminates on what is good for the group while the rest of us are busy wrecking havoc with our lives. The woman is just incredible.

She brought quite a few articles this time. One was a little blip from The Writer magazine. There were two lines that knocked the socks off of me. Sadly, I don't have the issue with me and I can't give credit to whoever wrote the article. http://www.writermag.com/en.aspx

"Be Open To Serendipity." I really think this is an important part of writing. Personally, I don't go to my page and plan what will happen step by step. I start with an idea and then, if you've noticed, I let the Muse have her way. She is full of serendipitous folly. I love her.

"The good ending must touch the heart and guts and soul, not just rattle the bones."  I'm beginning to contemplate the ending of my first 'Blue' book and want to make sure the ending rocks. I'm going to try to keep the above thought in mind as I plunge onward.

I told the group my thoughts about being addicted to writing and our intrepid leader suggested that a short story is a 'gateway' to more and more addictive behavior. She's right. I think a word can be the gateway. Or a sentence. Or a drabble (those one hundred word little exercises that make you pull out your hair.) From word to sentence to short story to novel. And eventually you are so addicted to writing, you begin the greatest epic of all times.

Our leader also read my posting about reading my own stuff (after finding it in the midst of moving) and not realizing it was my own. And liking it. She gave us homework. We have to bring in a piece that we wrote awhile back and read it to the group. One that surprised us and we like. Should be fun. I discovered, as I looked for a piece on my computer, that I used to write poetry. I forgot about that. I'll bring one of my poems to the next meeting.

All in all, an absolutely scintillating meeting.

Life is fun.