Hurray for Writers' Groups!

Since last Fall, I've been meeting with a writers' group on the third Friday of every month.  The four of us meet downtown at a restaurant to drink, nosh, and swap news about our personal and professional lives.  Then we critique a manuscript one of us has written and emailed in advance.  It's been terrific.  They're all writers affiliated with the Department of English at UNL, so we can talk shop if we want to (though we usually don't), and they couldn't be nicer, more interesting women.

For the end of the semester, we had a potluck at one writer's house last Friday, and I had something BIG to celebrate.  I'd just finished the first draft of my new novel, all 349 pages of it.  The writers' group hadn't read it (too long), but they knew what a huge accomplishment it felt like.  I made the salad (which I record here for posterity, since it's only like the third salad I've ever made in my life--that's a bit of our apartment in the background) and brought the bubbly. 

And you know what?  My friends were so happy for me, so completely congratulatory and supportive and generous.  We sat out on the deck and chatted.   They asked great questions, which I was happy to answer, and we all caught up on each other's projects. 

As we all know, writing is solitary, and it can get lonely.  Sometimes you feel like you're not getting anywhere on a project, and sometimes you doubt your work's worth.  So when you do achieve something, it's important to have people to help you mark the little successes along the way.  If you're a writer and you don't have that kind of network, start building it now.  It can be done. 

Lincoln's a wonderful town to be in, and I'm so happy to live here among friends.