I created this blog because I needed a creative outlet during the long days of pandemic quarantine. It was my hesitant exploration into journaling while hoping to capture brief glimpses into our daily life in words and photos. I never imagined that four years later I would be concluding my first year, in my first ever writers’ group.
When I attended an organizational meeting last spring, I went armed with intent and not the intent to write but, rather, the intent to walk if there was any mention of constructive criticism. While my rational mind knew such advice could improve my craft, my heart was too tender. Luckily, our group is nothing like English Composition 101. Our time together is never punctuated with critiques or grades and, depending on the writer’s whim, the rules of grammar may not pertain.
Our writers’ group is part of a diverse adult curriculum focused on spiritual growth. I appreciate our small nod to “churchiness” as we consider each month’s Soul Matters theme as a possible prompt. But, I also relish knowing our compositions may flow in different directions since the theme is a suggestion, only a starting point without strict requirements.
Every month as I ponder what I will write, I see the faces and hear the voices of my fellow writers in my mind. Their talent and creativity serve as benchmarks, spurring me on to work harder, pay closer attention to word selection and phrasing, editing and then re-editing before our third Saturday gathering. I am often humbled by the words they choose to share and, if sometimes there are tears, they are tears of heartfelt support. They may also be tears sprung from such deep laughter as I wonder how I am sitting with someone who should be writing for late night TV.
In a recent sermon, Rev. Victoria Safford shared the phrase, “we are young on our journey.” My foray into writing still feels very new and sometimes scary. I am definitely young on this writing journey, but during this past year I have enjoyed traveling hand-in-hand or better described as keystroke-for-keystroke with my fellow writers on this literary path.
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