Groups and conferences and things to aim for

I have started this post several times over the past week, but my excitement about my new writers’ group keeps getting in the way! I don’t really know what I want to say about it except, “I’m so excited!” Somehow, that doesn’t seem like quite enough.

I feel as if having a regular group to meet with in person is really going to be a huge boost to my writing. I’m thrilled that, after several years of wanting this and a couple of failed attempts to form a group, there is finally a group of us who want to do this. Hurray!

So, what happened at the first meeting? There were five of us, with the possibility that two other people will be joining us at our next meeting. We talked about what we all want to do with our writing. We talked about what stage in our writing careers we’re in right now. And possibly the most exciting thing to me—we set goals of what we want to accomplish by the next meeting! Pledging to do something by a certain date, and knowing that people are going to expect a report from me, is a great way for me to make sure I don’t put off my writing for other, less important things. I really work best under external deadlines.

That said, I haven’t done much in the past week—the next meeting is a bit too far away for me to be feeling the pressure yet, plus I’m trying to get things ready for this weekend. I am going to the Willamette Writers’ Conference here in Portland this weekend. I’m really excited about this, too. I am thrilled at the chance to go hang out for three days with other writers, socialize, network, take some workshops…I think this is going to be a really great conference. The course list is huge and has so many good things on it I won’t actually be able to fit them all in.

But never fear (I say this mostly to myself). I am starting to feel the deadline coming up, and the story is stirring itself and wanting some attention. As a matter of fact, I have already reworked my opening scene. The new idea is much better, and I think the finished scene is going to be good. So the writers’ group is already working its magic on me.

Next week, expect a report on the conference as well as a report on writing progress! For now, I’m off to check on pen refills…