Writer's Schmooze

Story ID:	3916
Written by:	Carol J Garriott
Organization:	home/retired
Story type:	Musings, Essays and Such
Location:	Victoria Texas USA
Year:	2007
Person:	Carol Garriott

Writing clubs. Writing groups. Author’s get-togethers. Whatever one calls them, they are a valued resource and support for aspiring writers, beginning writers, as well as successful published authors. I have been impressed over the years with the benefits I observed my sister, Gail Martin, receiving through her affiliation with her local group, “Prairie Prose and Poetry,” and “The Kansas Authors Club.” Contests spurred her to write and enter, and winning prizes gave her confidence. Becoming acquainted with other authors brought her support and friends with like writing challenges.

When I retired from the all-consuming typesetting career in Central Texas to the tiny, laid-back shrimping village on the Texas coast, I stumbled around for a few months, trying to figure out just what I was going to do with all this free time. It wasn’t long until I was involved in a multitude of volunteer activities, started a monthly newspaper, and found myself embroiled with numerous environmental areas of concern. As another retiree and newcomer to the area quipped one time, “At least when I was working, I had weekends off!”

I had never thought that when I retired, I would merely sit back and do nothing. However, one totally unexpected result of retirement fairly blew my mind. I had no idea whatsoever that I had subjugated my mentality, my inventiveness, indeed my life, to “the job.” First, I had to get the mindset out of my head that this was not a 2-week vacation, that I would not have to get back in the grind of “up at 5 a.m. to leave the house at 6 a.m. to arrive at work at 7 a.m.” It took about 3 months to achieve that, to realize that my time was my own, to do with as I chose. Then it happened. My creativity exploded like the proverbial bomb.

For the first Mother’s Day after relocating, I created a 4-page “newspaper” for my sister and family in Kansas, to tell them about my new little town. Of course I used the software and skills I had used all those years in typesetting. My new friends on the Coast were thrilled with it as well, and clamored for me to continue, as there was no such periodical just for our town. The businesses would advertise in it, thus covering the cost of copies. And so “Livin’ on the Bay” was born. As you can see in the first photo, I am often assisted by one of my cats.

Then along came OurEcho, with a forum for posting stories to record and preserve our family history, and whatever else we chose to write about. It is a splendid encouragement to fledgling writers as well as published authors.

I cast about for a supportive writer’s group within my travel range. I tried for a few months to attend a small group just getting going, up the coast about 50 miles. I enjoyed the time with those of like-interests, but as I was the only one not living in the immediate area, I didn’t succeed in getting them to change the weekday evening schedule. When winter arrived, I disliked the 50-mile drive home in the late, cold, windy dark, and gradually discontinued my attendance.

Last year, I heard about a writing group trying to get organized just 30 miles inland, in my “big city” shopping area, and they met on the 2nd Saturday morning of the month. A much better schedule, and I could do my weekly shopping while there. For several months we traded ideas for a name, and finally settled on “Writer’s Schmooze.”

Included in our group are those wanting to write, those experimenting with a few paragraphs and outlines, some that are self-published, several with a book or two under their belt, and a highly successful author. We share what has worked for us and what has not. The best-selling author of our group brings great encouragement to persevere, as well as information on how the world of publishing works and what to expect. We bring self-help books to show and tell, on subjects as varied as the pros and cons of getting an agent, grammar assistance, how best to submit manuscripts to publishers (do your research: follow their requirements to the letter, and submit only to publishers who deal with your genre). Our focus is helping each other with whatever we are currently struggling with.

Our Writer’s Schmooze meets in a Hastings Bookstore with a coffee shop, which enhances our gatherings. A reporter from the area daily newspaper visited one day, and wrote a delightful feature article, "Writing Scene up and coming in Victoria" about our group and the Victoria College Writer’s Club. I was delighted to see my notebook and pen in the full-page display. Behind the headline one can see a corner of my self-published book, “Curve of the Coast.” I hadn't realized the reporter was photographing our table! Along with me in the photo are a writing couple also from my little town. Such fun!

Titles that I have acquired and found extremely helpful are
“Eats, Shoots & Leaves,” The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation (how the wrong grammar can totally change the story), by Lynne Truss;
“Grammatically Correct,” The Writer’s Essential Guide to Punctuation, Spelling, Style, Usage and Grammar, by Anne Stilman;
“100 Words Every Word Lover Should Know,” from the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries;
“The Writer’s Book of Wisdom: 101 Rules for Mastering Your Craft,” by Steven Taylor Goldsberry;
“The Complete Guide to Self-Publishing,” Everything you need to know to write, publish, promote and sell your own book, by Tom & Marilyn Ross;
”Writing from Life,” Telling Your Soul’s Story, by Susan Wittig Albert (of tremendous help when writing memoirs);
and my all-time favorite, “Damn! Why Didn’t I Write That?” How Ordinary People are Raking in $100,000 or More Writing Nonfiction Books & How You Can Too! by Marc McCutcheon.

Check about in your area for author’s groups you may wish to join. If there isn’t one, think about starting one. The networking brings enormous results, and encouragement from others of experience and like interests is invaluable.