I joined a writing workshop group last week. Yep, sure did. In an effort to meet new people, I checked out Meetup.com for writing groups and actually joined two. But I went to one this week. On Wednesday. I can’t say that I’m meeting the kinds of people who I can hang out with outside of the group (middle-age men and women with an interest in sci-fi or Russian history, what would I talk about?), but as a group of peers, I’m pretty confident that the members will give me honest feedback and the motivation to produce something and rewrite other things for each session. Which is great.
Having decided that I need to spend some time getting into my life as a writer more diligently, instead of pursuing boys or Chicago “scene” stuff, I’m trying to remove myself from the mid- late 20s crowd, the boozy, yuppie inconsequential nature of it all.
Enter the writing workshop.
This is also good prep for me as August and my MFA residency approaches. Getting myself into the habit of doing weekly essays and re-writes needs to begin now. One of the good things about being 26 is that I know I need to get into a secure habit before embarking upon anything important to make my efforts work. One of the things I didn’t realize, however, is just how badly I needed an audience for whom to write.
Sounds silly, doesn’t it? I mean, I know that I like having an audience, people who like to hear my stories because I end up in some pretty good situations, and I know that when I’m freelancing I enjoy my work more and write more clearly when I have an audience already established. But I didn’t realize just how important it is for me to know, as I’m writing it, that I’ll be getting feedback on a piece.
So while sprucing up an essay I wrote on seizures a while back, I began pondering this nature of audience necessity. I blog here, but I don’t really expect anyone to read my blatherings. I just write because sometimes, I’m forced to. I need to get it all out of me. I write to untangle the stuff inside me. I know that blogging is supposed to be more detailed, more relevant to the greater good, but I guess I’m just lazy about my writing on here.
I’ve realized that without an audience, since my newspaper gig, or since college, I’ve just been lazy about my writing in general.
And as a writer, that’s a real bad place to be.
So I want to push myself, and I know that the only way to do that is to write every day, and write like I mean it. Write like I have something to say. To that end, I begin to think to myself “I want to start a new writing blog, I’m just not sure if I can make it relevant.”
Duh, the obvious answer is of course I can. I just have to DO IT. Pay attention to what I’m saying. Not be so… lazy…
