Support Group for Writers

I woke up this morning and had a great idea. I think there should be a group of writers who meet together and are writers who really write and send their stuff out and talk to each other for self support. I know there are somewhere but I never found them. I am certainly not going to find them here in Korea, and I have tried. Besides, I am going home soon.

I remember going to a group therapy session for women only awhile back. They were women of all ages which was good and all of us served in the military and had that in common. However, I was the only one that was self-supporting and did not have personal drug or alcohol issues. I come from a family full of people who had those problems so I barely squeaked in on that score. I was also the only one that completed college although many were in the rehabilitation program. Many lived at home and I left home permanently when I was 16 years of age. I think the level of trauma of these brave ladies were tremendous and I was able to overcome mine because my resources were sufficient to help me get through. Theirs were not. I did not belong. They knew it too.

Looking in the Internet, I found a writers' group that was active in the town I lived in. I went to that one. Many of the writers did not write full time. Many of them did not write at all. They just wanted to be writers. Very few of them actually wrote and sent their stuff in. Very few actually had things published except for the few that self-published. When they passed around their books, I was appalled at the ones that needed to be edited.

Then I tried book clubs. I was astonished at the leader who chose the books, that were for the most part, out of print. I was very suspicious she chose the books she had read years ago. Another group was a wine and cheese group for women with their husbands and since I did not have one at the time I felt out of place. When I voiced a suggestion that this book group should consider books by women authors instead of the steady stream of men writers I was told "our husbands would not put up with that."

I think I just had bad karma. I lived in a small town. I have a friend that lives in a large city and is a member of several book clubs that he finds interesting. He is also a member of a memoir writing club. If he did not live 12 hours away, I would join them. Maybe there are few clubs for working writers because most writers that I have known usually are not joiners. When I lived in a Midwestern city, I was a member of a wonderful book club. They exist.

So, what should I do to share the joy and the misery of writing. Then I look up and see this blog. I am doing it. I will continue to look for writers groups. I am returning to that small city. The writers club has collapsed. I would start my own if I live alone but my house is full of people now and I don't know any writers anymore in my town.

One of the advantages of writing is writers do very well alone. In general we like the space if it is populated with just ourselves. On the other hand, it is nice to share the fact that the world may not be ready with our brand of writing or we hit the markets at the wrong time or those brown envelops coming back in the mail can be just one envelop too many. I remember asking the Veterans Administration for help in dealing with writers block. The psychiatrist said no in no uncertain terms. He said the VA does not help with things like that. For a writer, writing is like breathing. I should have asked him why not.

So, until I have a group for dysfunctional writers, and name me one writer who is not dysfunctional, this blog is going to have to be it.