Responses
russ: I wish (10/24/13)
Carena: Cool! (10/29/13)
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Responses (sorted by date)
Carena: Cool! (10/29/13)
russ: I wish (10/24/13)
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I am thinking about starting a writers group at the Village. I love to write and have sold numerous poems and articles over the years to various magazines and websites and have learned a few things along the way. I'd love to share what I've learned with others, but more importantly I'd like to encourage people to write, help them sharpen their skills, and develop a community of writers willing to use their gifts and talents to advance the kingdom of God.
The writers groups that I have been part of in the past that have been the most helpful have been those where we would both encourage and critique each others' efforts. What I am thinking about for the Village Writers is a Friday night gathering once a month where those who wish to participate bring things they are working on and we spend a little time reading some portion of their manuscript, (usually five minutes or so) and then spend five minutes talking about what we enjoyed about the piece or what we thought the writer did well, followed by five minutes talking about what didn't work for us or what might be improved. After that the writer would have an opportunity to respond. As you can quickly see that means we would spend about fifteen minutes on each manuscript so I would assume the meeting might be two to three hours long depending on the number of people involved.
One of my mentors once said that writers write. So if you write you are a writer. You may not think of yourself that way but you are a writer. You may not think of yourself as a good writer. It doesn't matter. If you write you are a writer and if you are a writer you can learn to become a better writer. One of the opportunities that writing provides is that it allows for you to not only express yourself, but speak to a broader audience as well. Early on I wrote prose and poetry just for the sheer joy of doing so and never shared them with anyone. As I began to share things, I found that others appreciated and enjoyed what I offered. It can be very scary to have people not only read what you write but also speak into it, but I'd encourage you to take the risk and let me know you are interested. Join the group, It will be tons of fun and you will be greatly encouraged.
So call me, e-mail me, tap my shoulder at church (NOT!), or respond to this missive if you are interested and let me know. I might even start a page on the infamous Village clipboard so you can sign up, but that might require good administrative gifts that writers seem to often not possess. Once we find out who is interested, we'll set a date and time for our first meeting and see where things go from there.
I am a writer. I just wrote this. Are you a writer?
Rod |
