Local Writers' Associations - Maryland Writers and Others

Writer and book reviewer Serena from the Savvy Verse & Wit blog brought up a good question yesterday about how I learned about Edie Hemingway's writer's workshops in Frederick, MD. I thought the answer could do with repeating, so here it is - I found out through the Maryland Writers' Association email list.

I recently joined the Maryland Writers' Association, and I've received a lot of great information from my fellow members. Members also get to put their sites up on the member sites page. In addition, the discount to the annual conference just about pays for the membership, so if you're planning on going to the conference, it's more than worth it. Attention emerging authors: you ARE planning on going to a writer's conference, right?

Of course, many of the people reading this probably aren't from Maryland. For you, I have a special resource that I've been working on: my Local Writers' Associations By State site. More than two hundred writers' organizations from across the U.S. are listed here (and counting!)

You can find a lot of great information online - believe me, that's how I started. But nothing beats a local writer's association for giving you that extra insight into local conferences, conventions, workshops, readings, and more. It can be a great advantage to a new writer to join one of these organizations, or even just to stop by their site to see what's going on locally. And hey, sometimes us writers need to get out from behind the computer screen and meet with people in real life, and what better way to do this than through a local organization?

Random Word Generator and Writeous Writers

So I figured since I haven't posted in a while, I should get something up here. I couldn't think of anything, so I turned to a handy Random Word Generator. And guess what - my word was Character! Very fitting, don't you think?

Getting to the essence of a character can be tricky. I haven't known my characters for very long. I find myself putting them in situations where I'm not quite sure how they'll react, and I just have to figure something out. I think that the best way to develop characters is the same way you'd get to know a friend. You start out slow, you ask a few questions, you hang out together, maybe have a misunderstanding or two, but (hopefully) you eventually feel like you understand the other person. Of course, then they throw something completely different at you, and you have to shift your view; but that's what makes friendship, and reading, interesting.

I just remembered one other thing I wanted to mention: I'm starting a writer's group! One of the new members suggested the name Writeous Writers, and I love it. If things go well, I'll set up a website, and perhaps get it listed on the Maryland Writer's Association site. I'm excited. It seems like this is a critique style that will work for me. I've tried subscribing to discussion groups on the web, but they often just deteriorate into flame wars and endless promotions. Hopefully this way I'll spend more time working on my writing, and less time deleting emails.