Tuesday Afternoon

Writers’ groups are a writer’s best friend. It’s a safe place for writers to discuss fresh ideas, old problems, and our muses, or lack of them. It is safe to read our words asking for positive critiques. It helps to know that we face the same blank page though we each will fill that page differently. There are various formats and guidelines to use for your group. Our Tuesday Afternoon group is a mixed group of two men and four women. Each of us comes originally from assorted areas of the country. We tested alternate ways to spend our two hours until we settled on what was right for us. I bring a prompt and we take a month to return with our writing to the prompt. We do not write during the meeting. We read what we have written in poetry, essay, memoir, or prose. The responses are as diverse as we are in the group. This makes for interest-ing discussion. It’s an opportunity to learn how to listen, use respect, offer thoughts, and take away new ideas from exposure to another way. If there is time for anyone to read unrelated items, we do that next. Reading our own work aloud is also excellent practice for personal performances.