Today I'm talking about why writers should consider being a member of a writing group and the value they bring to our writing. It's a lot more than you might think.
Today I'm talking about why writers should consider being a member of a writing group and the value they bring to our writing. It's a lot more than you might think.
Hi, and welcome to the writing and marketing show brought to you by author Wendy H. Jones. This show does exactly what it says on the tin. it's jam packed with interviews, advice, hints, tips and news to help you with the business of writing. It's all wrapped up in one lively podcast, so it's time to get on with the show. And welcome to episode 107 of the writing and Marketing Show with author entrepreneur, Wendy H. Jones, I can't help wondering how I managed to get as far as 107. But I'm having an absolute blast doing it, and loved all the topics that we've been covering. The last few weeks, we've been looking at social media tic toc in particular, but I thought we would move back to writing this week. And I want to talk to you about writing groups. And that is something that is dear to my heart. But before that, I would like to say that I absolutely love bringing you the show every week, it's a pleasure to do so however it does keep time out of my writing. If you would like to support this time, you can do so by going to patreon.com/wendyhjones. And you can support me for just $3 a month. And it's athe price of a tea or coffee. And if you don't want to do it monthly, then you can just do it as a one off. If you go to my website, wendyhjones.com, and you can click on Buy me a coffee and buy me a coffee just as a one off. And again, that can be a couple of dollars. It just lets me know that you're enjoying the show. And you want me to continue with it. And I want to continue with you continue with it crumbs. I'm tripping over my teeth today. But that's because I'm absolutely exhausted the last two nights, I have had the most miserable miserable night's sleep ever known to mine. And I'm functioning on about an hour and a half sleep. So I'm going to recommend another podcast episode to you, which isn't one of my podcasts. But if you go to the creative pen, which is Joanna pens podcast, and find the episode that she did, about a better sleep, trust me is worth listening to. And I'm going to listen to it again. And a lot of it involves not using screens late at night. And that's the one thing I need to really take heed of, I think and it's better to use real books, it's better to stop put screens away by about eight, nine o'clock at night, and just have nothing to do with them till you go to bed, and certainly not in the bedroom. That's just one tip. But anyway, that's got nothing to do with what we are talking about tonight. Now writing groups are dear to my heart for a number of reasons. Now the first one is that when I first started writing, I knew I wanted a little bit of support. I knew I wanted to meet fellow authors, because I didn't really know any authors at that point. I wanted people to perhaps have a look at my work and tell me whether it was any good or not. And I just didn't want to be sitting in a vacuum, which is very easy to do. When you're a writer, it's very easy to sit in your writing cave. And you know, so your creativity cave. I like that. It's easy to sit in your cave of creativity, and just spend time in your own thoughts. And we're all very good at that. But we need to mix with other writers. It makes us better writers. It makes us better people. We can bounce ideas off of each other. And it's generally a good thing. So I went online to look at if there were any writing groups in Dundee, and I came across an organisation called The Scottish Association of Writers and more of that in a moment. And but I found them and they had writing groups on the website, then the nearest one to me was in Angus, and it was called Angus writer circle. And I went and I joined Angus writer circle, I emailed them, they made me very welcome. Although at that point, they didn't meet in a very all detail. And it was a very dark night. And it was very, it was snowing here in Scotland and it was very creepy. And when I went there, I thought oh my goodness, this could be you know, this hotel was like an old castle. And I thought this would make a brilliant gothic novel, you know, because of the snow, the dark. And But despite all this, when I got into the room where they were doing it, they were an absolutely fabulous bunch of people made me very well come and help to shape my writing and the meat in our broth in Angus in Scotland. And they're a fabulous group. I would highly recommend them. They're doing a bit of a hybrid at the moment. And the hybrid is where some of the things are online. And some of the things are actually in a venue. But for the last two years it's been online totally because of COVID. And a lot of writing groups are at the moment. So what did I get from joining a writing group? Well, I got a lot of things. First of all, I got to meet people. And that was key. That was one of my key objectives. But it also meant that I could read out some of my writing, I could get feedback, I got excellent feedback from the people there. And some of the people were newer writers, some of the people were established writers who were published award winning writers, there was a mixture of people. So it doesn't matter if you're just, you know, starting out, or whether you are an accomplished author of just wanting to meet new people, then writing groups are good for you. So the first thing was I met people, I had a group of people around me who supported me, who encouraged me, and were there for me every step of the way. The next thing I got was I got to learn from other people. No matter how good we think we are. And let's face it, we all think we're awesome. We all think we should be winning the next Booker Prize. But we all need help. And we all need input. And we all need to stretch ourselves. We are and I stretch myself, I certainly have. And we've had talks there. And we have talks at all the writing groups that I'm a member of, I'm a member of four, and I'm going to go into that as to why I do all of them. You get talks, you get to hear from people, you get to know things that are happening. You get the insight from the industry. And the talks that you get sometimes it can be very focused, for example, we've had talks on poetry. Now, I'm not a poet by any means. But I have stretched myself and done some poetry while I've been listening to the, to the talks. And you usually get an exercise after the talks. And it does help you to push yourself out of your comfort zone because we can all fall into a comfort zone. As you know, I love writing crime books. And I always fall back on that because what was my first love, but I do want to read and write other things as well to make myself a more rounded writer. Now, I'm not saying I'm ever going to publish a book of poetry because trust me, with the worst port in the world in the in the Guinness Book of Records is William McGonigal, who is a Dundee poet, long dead dandy poet, but he is the worst port in the world and his books sell worldwide, he's very famous. Well, I would take him off his pedestal. I ahve never published a book of poetry. But doing the poetry has helped me, it's helped me be a better writer, it's helped me think about the way I structure things about the way I structure sentences, how words fit together, how I can make things more poetic, more lyrical. And that helps me to be a better writer. I've entered competitions for it, I didn't get anywhere that was in the in the group. But I didn't get anywhere. But I didn't expect to get anywhere. But it made me push myself out of my comfort zone. I've entered a competition and written an article about nature and nature is not something I would ever think about writing about. Again, I didn't get anywhere with it. But writing that has made me it's made me think more about what I can do. It's made me think about articles. And it made me think about writing nature articles about the place where I live. And I did get some feedback on the piece. And I can use that. I know. In fact, I did use it. And it's now been published in an online magazine, which I was very pleased about. So again, it can help you to push yourself out of your comfort zone and try new things. Why not try new ideas? Why not take your writing in a different direction. I was writing a nonfiction article. And with that one, and nonfiction articles are not something I write as a matter of course. And the other thing that I did, I've entered a competition for a humorous article. And I came second. And I was delighted with that because I'm not you know, I love writing humour, but it's not something I would think of writing an article about or entering a competition about, but I took the bull by the horns and I did it. I've entered flash fiction competitions and I've come I've got highly commended. So again, flash fiction wasn't something I'd ever thought of. But all going to a writing group has made me it's made me think outside the box. It's made me think outside my narrow crime, genre focus. I've also started writing children's picture books and they have rhyming verses they have verse in them. And I would never have done that if I hadn't tried the poetry with the group and had entered the competitions. And there are no published my children's books are published. And that was all because I was attending a writing group, and it made me push myself outside my comfort zone. So you can learn so much the speakers that come in are phenomenal. The speakers that give workshops, do workshops are phenomenal. They're experts in their field. And because they're experts in their field, they are giving you the benefit of their knowledge. And I soak it all up, I soak everything up. Because, again, it helps me be a better writer, it helps me be a better person, because I'm always learning. And the learning aspect is exciting for me. So, you know, I would highly recommend writer scripts on a number of fronts. And you if there's something that you would like to give a talk on, you can put it forward and the committee might agree. I've done talks on marketing to writing groups, I've done talks on writing, I've done talks on the life of a writer. And I've done that internationally to writers groups, both online and in person. And that's all because I developed my skills as a writer, and I developed my skills as a speaker, as well, in a safe environment. Now, I don't have any trouble speaking, but other people might. And they may want to try things out on the writing group first. And you never know you might become a public speaker, you might become a sort of a sought after paid Speaker. On the strength of it. I'm paid to do talks everywhere. In America, I've done talks, I've done them in Dublin, and Ireland. I've done them all over the UK. And I've been paid for them. So this is something that I developed because I, I opened myself up to new opportunities, I opened myself up to different things. And it was because I attended a writers group. So I would like to say a great thank you to Angus writer circle, who helped to shape me into the writer I am today. But I'm also a member of several other writers groups. And first of all, I am a member of city writers, now city writers is done was a dandy based group it met at the Friary church in Dundee. But since COVID, started has gone completely online. And I fully intend keeping it completely online until further notice, really, because it's working in many ways. First of all, we have people joining us, not just from Dundee, but from other places in the UK. And from other places in the world. We have members in we have members in America, we have members in Canada. So you know, we do have members. And I set up city writers because I wanted to help people who might feel a little bit intimidated coming into an established writers group with a lot of authors who are published that has been going for a long time, they might want something that's a little bit more informal, do some writing while they're there. And that was what I did. Now it's evolved since then it's been running for about six years. It's evolved since it started. And as I say it's moved online. Again, we're having a lot of talks. But people also get a chance to read their workouts, and they can get feedback on their work. And for a lot of people who are starting out, that's something that they want to neat. It's something that helps them to develop their work to a better level. And I wanted city writers to meet that need, as well as giving talks that help people develop their skills as a writer. So I think we've achieved that goal. And I'm going to tell you how you can find out about all these groups and how you can apply to join them later in the talk in the podcast. I'm also a member of history writers again, which I set up now that came about because I'm a member of the Society of authors. And we were chatting online it was during COVID And I was chatting in a small group on zoom with people and it turns out we all wrote books on history, or were interested in writing books, historical fiction, or historical nonfiction. So I sent an email out to them and I said, Look, guys, you got any interest in joining a group online, and it will always be online for people who are interested in writing historical books. And a small cohort of six people said yes. They joined and we developed from there we grew. And in that in the past year, we've only been going for a year. We are now full, we've gone from that six members to 25. And that's the amount we would like. Because we can get them on all, we can get them all on one screen on Zoom, and be able to see each other. Now, with this group, it's a totally different thing. Most people in the group are established writers. In fact, I think everybody in the group is an established writer. They're not just starting out. They're interested in writing history, which is the focus, and most of them are highly successful published authors. In my case, I'm a published author, but I am writing a historical series now and I'm researching it. And as you know, if you've been following this podcast, so that was something that I wanted to do now. What happens is one member of the group will do a talk every month, it meets once a month online, and somebody will do a talk. And then we will discuss that talk. And it's on some aspect of history, or the research that we're doing, or something that will help historical writers like for example, we had a talk on using maps, in the using maps to research historical fiction. And we did our historical nonfiction. And that was given by Mary click, and that was outstanding. We've had talks on how to use the archives. And that was by Mary as well. In fact, no, it wasn't, it was by Nick Mills, I apologise because we have two archivists in our group as well. And they give us the benefit of their knowledge, we've had talks on courtesans, we've had talks on World War Two, we've had talks on all sorts of different topics. And they're fascinating, but they help to make you a better writer as well. Because you're learning about how people are researching, you're learning about the things that go into the research that they're doing for the books. And this can help you to give a richer flavour to what you are doing in your books, your novels or your nonfiction, because you're meeting with other historical writers. And so that is history writers that I'm a member of a very small group called the writers critique group that is deliberately small, it meets online, but it just done the best and they are going to be meeting physically again soon. So that really is only for somebody that's in that's in Dundee or that area that can get to Dundee easily. That's Dundee in Scotland. By the way, if you happen to be in America, not Dundee in America, or Australia, and Dundee Scotland, and they function to critique each other's work. And sometimes they'll have a talk as well. And you do get very good critique from them, you get very, very good feedback. And I have found that invaluable. And because it's helped, it helps me to make my work stronger, and my manuscript is stronger. Then another one. I am a member of once upon a crime. now, once upon a crime is actually totally different. Because it's the UK and Europe Chapter of the Sisters in Crime organisation, which is an American, or started out as an American organisationand is based in America, but they have chapters worldwide. And that group is extremely supportive. Once upon a crime is extremely supportive. The people in it help each other out. We do online, what online writings together through zoom, we will just write and every 30 minutes, we'll have a chat and say how's it going, and then we'll get back to it. And so it really helps us to focus and to write three times a week and I'm loving that. And they also have when we meet once a month they have speakers. We've had some phenomenal speakers. We had Katrina McPherson, who was who is a historical crime writer. And because Katrina is amazing. She lives in America, but she is from Scotland. She's from Edinburgh. We had no standing talk from her. We've had a talk from Vaseem Khan, who is also a crime writer. His books are set in India, but he he lives in London or thereabouts. He lives in the south of England anyway. And so we actually have talks that are crime focused so just as history writers as history focused, once upon a crime is crime focused, but in order to join once upon a crime, you have to be a member of the Sisters in Crime organisation in the first place. And now being a member of That has really helped me, because I've been invited to speak to numerous Sisters in Crime chapters in America, because of a talk I gave on the Sisters in Crime, to the Sisters in Crime group online. And it was a talk about using storytelling in your marketing for authors. So that was a very good opportunity for me. But it was also a better opportunity, because it meant that I got picked up by other places that wanted the talk as well. And I'm very excited about that I'm thoroughly enjoying doing these talks. And the other talk that I've done is about how I got started as a writer to some of the Sisters in Crime groups. So writing groups can be extremely, extremely invaluable. You meet people who are supportive, they support you every step of the way. You make new friends, you stretch yourself as a writer, you learn new skills, you learn about new things that you hadn't thought of before, even if they don't help you. 100% Because I'm not writing Second World War fiction. It's helped me in a wider sense, in that I No, no, no hope people can bring and more, more variety more varied more. And I can't even think of the word I'm trying to say more colour to my books, more background knowledge, and just do it with a light tan so that I don't overwhelm the overwhelm the reader vibrancy, that's what I was looking for. I came up with every word with began with V except vibrancy. I told you, I was tired, and I was tripping over my tongue today. I think it'll be an early night for me tonight, I tell you. So writing groups are standing, I would highly recommend that you join one. And that's for two reasons. The first one is they as I said, they are invaluable, you learn so much from them, and you make a lot of new friends, you may only be meeting online, but you will meet up at some point, I'm sure I've met people online like that, and then I've been meeting with them in America. And it's amazing. And spot for once upon a crime. And you joined by going to the Sisters in Crime organisation in the first instance. And if you go to Sisters in Crime, just search it, you will find their website, and you will find out where the chapters are. And I think you're able to spend an hour listening to one of the join them for another for one of their chapters in order to find out what it's about. And whether you would like it before you you know, pin your colours to the mast to use a nautical term that I'll be using in my using in my books, and decide to join Sisters in Crime on the chapter completely. And so that's the only way you can do that. For the other groups. And for the ones I'm running, or I'm involved in, there's two ways that you can actually get to join them. First of all, you can go to the society, not the Society of authors, the Scottish association of writers website, and that is Scottishassociationofwriters.com. If you go to that website, and join the join the group, then you sorry, if you go to the website, you will find out all the groups that they do by going to join a group or join us and you will find all the groups and you do not join the Scottish association of writers itself, you join a group in the first instance and the groups that are affiliated to the Scottish association of writers. Now once you join a group, you will automatically become a member of the Scottish association of writers. Now the groups are there and you just type in your postcode, it will tell you where you need us group pairs, and you can join them unless it online in which case you can join them from wherever the heck you like, in the world if they are willing to have you. So city writers and history writers are both online. So you can join them just by going to the site, the scottishassociationofwriters.com or you can email me when wendyhjones.com. And I can give you information, Angus writers you can find out all the information about them. If you go to the Scottish association of writers now I know these all seem to be done, be focused. They're not all done defocused I'm just talking about the ones that are around Dundee because that's where I live. And so the ones I have are more, you know, in this area, there is a group wherever you live in Scotland, there will be a group nearby. I can assure you of that and There will be a group that you can join. If there isn't, contact us, and we can help you set one up if you would like to. Now, why is it important to be a member of a group to join the Scottish association of writers? Well, if you're a member of the Scottish sociation of writers, you get some benefits from that, first of all, you are able to come to our conference. And our conference happens once a year in March at the west of where to tell the Resort and Spa in Cumbernauld in Scotland. And we get people coming from America and other places to come to the conference. And it's a fabulous conference. It also means that you can enter out competitions, we have some highly regarded competitions. And some of their some of them are actually only you can only enter if you are coming to the to the conference, others you can enter without coming to the conference, but you still have to be a member of the Scottish sociation of writers, which means being a member of an affiliated group. And so it's worth looking at the groups and seeing if there's one you can join. But your group can also affiliate to the Scottish sociation of writers. If you go to the website, Scottish sociation of writers.com. You can look if you're already in a writers group, or you're setting one up or you're joining one, wherever you are in the world, speak to us and we can look at we can look at getting you affiliated Now why do I know so much about all of this? Well, I am the president of the Scottish association of writers. Now I told you I would come back to that later in the show, because the first thing I did when I became a writer was looked for a writing groups and more writers in my area. The Scottish association of writers helped me to find a group which I then joined. And I am now the president and have been for the last 433 years. This is my fourth year it will be my fourth conference this year. And I'm very much looking forward to it. And it's happening in March this year. Looking forward to it for a number of reasons. Firstly, the first first conference I ran as, as the President was the 50th anniversary conference, no pressure there. Then one day, the second one a week before the conference, I had to cancel it because of COVID. And it was cancelled. And then a few days later, we all went into lockdown anyway, so we couldn't have done it. So I cancelled the conference. The third year, we still couldn't go ahead with it. So we put the conference online and did an online conference. And that was hard work. Let me tell you people enjoyed it. But it was a lot of hard work there. But this year, we are back to the hotel. And as I seem to have, you know, marked my presidency by doing a 50th anniversary conference cancelling a conference doing an online conference, no pressure when do to put something phenomenal on this year. But I love doing it. The conference is amazing. And as I say people come from all over Scotland, they come from all over the world. And I thought oh, this year people will still be a bit rattled because of COVID. No, that doesn't happen to be the case. It seems that we are filling up and people are still wanting to come. Obviously any COVID restrictions in place will be followed fully. But I love being the president I love being a member of the Scottish sociation of writers. I love being a member of writing groups. And I could highly recommend that you join one. Because you won't regret it you will get so much help and assistance that will make you a better writer, no matter what stage of your writing life you're at. So thank you for listening once again and I look forward to seeing you again next week for episode 108. That brings us to the end of another show. It was really good to have you on the show with me today. I'm Wendy H Jones. And you can find me at WendyHjones.com. You can also find me on Patreon where you can support me for as little as $3 a month which is less than the price of a tea or coffee. You go to patreon.com forward slash Wendy H Jones. I'm also went H Jones on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest. Thank you for joining me today and I hope you found it both useful and interesting. Join me next week when I will have another cracking guest for you. Until then, have a good week. And keep writing keep reading and keep learning