Writers and Editors

Listed here are official local and regional groups, but sometimes the most effective local groups for writers and/​or editors are informal groups. For freelancers, such a group is one way to alleviate cabin fever.

One group of magazine writers, editors, and book authors, for example, began meeting once a month for networking sessions, and the group grew to about 50 people. The group invites guest authors to give 20-minute talks, after which members network. Members bring dishes to share, no fees are charged, and members find work through the networking.

Another, smaller, group meets the same day and place every week, after office hours, just to schmooze, vent, gossip, give and ask advice. Some groups meet to critique each other’s work. Some meet to discuss special-interest topics (such as Victor Block's group in DC, which discusses travel writing). At the bottom of this page you'll find Kathryn Lance's description of Tucson Women Writers, which I post here as a model of how you can start your own local group.

If you don’t know of any such group where you live, start one. It’s comforting to have a local support group with which to vent, brag, query, bitch and moan, and exchange shop talk. Meanwhile, the larger organizations provide a place to make connections and learn about your craft. Sometimes their strength lies in practical features such as health insurance. (Disability insurance is harder to come by for writers; insurance firms think a writer wants to stay home and write the great American novel.) On the whole, you get a lot more out of a group if you are active and visible. You are unlikely to get referrals or make friends if you just sit and wait for things to come to you. If you make friends with people AND you do good work, and your name comes to mind when opportunities arise, then belonging to a group can work for you, both personally or professionally, if the group is a good fit for your skills and personal preferences.

You'll find more local and regional organizations listed under science writers and under specialty writing (where you will find many regional sports and writing organizations, including groups such as Southern Bowling Writers). Also, many, if not most, national organizations, have local chapters, so if you find a national organization that suits your interests, check to see if there are local chapters.

American Independent Writers (AIW), formerly Washington Independent Writers, in Washington DC

East of Eden Writers Conference (always held in Steinbeck Country--Salinas, California--sponsored by South Bay Writers (Santa Clara Valley branch of the California Writers Club)

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Tucson Women Writers is a small, private group of professional women writers in and around the Tucson (AZ) area. The group was started as a listserv in 2001 by a Tucson freelancer, as a way to help ease the occasional loneliness of freelancing and to share information with other like-minded writers. Over the years, the group has grown a bit, but with new members and dropouts tends to stay at around twenty members. This seems to be an ideal number, allowing everyone to get to know everyone else, yet providing a critical mass of expertise.

New members are usually found through word of mouth. Once a new member is proposed by any member, she will be accepted provided that no one (privately) objects to her within a week. The founder of the group has always put an emphasis on inviting people who are published and actively seeking publication, to eliminate mere wannabes. We are all happy to help newcomers, but that is not the purpose of the group, which instead is to provide virtual companionship, to share information, and to interact with fellow professionals with whom you can commiserate or share good publishing news.

The listserv is our primary means of communicating with each other, but we also meet in person every couple of months, for a luncheon or a happy hour. It’s always fun to put faces to names, though some members never or rarely participate in the face-to-face meetings.

In the seven years I’ve been a member I’ve found TWW to be a valuable part of my professional and virtual social life. I’ve learned a lot about local and national markets, and enjoy reading about the triumphs and awards of fellow members. I would never hesitate to ask a question, and do my best to provide assistance when I myself have answers. There is by happenstance an emphasis on travel writing in TWW, but writers of all sorts are members. Though I’m semi-retired as a writer, I am very clear that writers are MY PEOPLE, among the most generous and articulate on the planet. TWW is an exemplar of this spirit, and I think could serve as a model for any small group of writers who wish to band together.

~Kathryn Lance
http:/​/​www.klance.com
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