The following links to online writers groups, critique groups, and communities appear on The Writing Life page of Writers and Editors. We may envy the days of literary salons, when writers hung out in cafes and bars and swapped drafts and lovers, but as C.J. West writes in A Writer in Paris (on the excellent Stiletto Gang blog), "Although a few writers and I meet to have lunch once or twice a year, we’re all busy with work and family, plotting out our next novels and promoting our currents ones.... Writers have created their own havens online. From the Stiletto Gang to What Women Write to Writer Unboxed, writers gather to share and to read each other’s work."
Absolute Write (MacAllister Stone's Water Cooler, where writers exchange tips, share experiences)
Association of Personal Historians (for those who help others write their memoirs or develop video tributes). A group known for generously sharing knowledge of this emerging genre. (I am current president.)
AuthorNation.com (online community for authors, writers, poets, and their readers)
Backspace, The Writer's Place (writers helping writers navigate the often confusing world of Big Publishing)
Black Writers Reunion & Conference
Conferences, workshops, and other learning places
Crime fiction organizations and conventions (Overbooked)
CrimeOnline.net (forum, community of crime fiction writers, readers, and professionals from publishing and crime-related fields)
Crime Writers (a forum for those interested in writing or currently writing crime fiction--police procedurals, noir, hard-boiled, etc.)
CrimeThruTime (Yahoo discussion group on historical mysteries, authors and readers)
Critique and discussion groups
Editors and copyeditors
Fiction writers
Fiction Factor forum
Field Report (this is a writing contest, for "true life" stories, which some of my life-story writing students find addictive--but the site appears to be troubled)
Illustrators and media professionals
JacketFlap (social networking community for published authors and illustrators of books for children and young adults)
Journalists' organizations
Kitchen Tables and Regional Get-Togethers (International Women's Writing Guild)
Local and regional U.S. groups for writers and editors
Meetup groups for writers(check out those near your zip code) and the Meetup HQ Blog (to learn about other meetup groups with your special interests)
Murder Must Advertise (online discussions on best ways to promote mysteries)
Mystery Readers International, reading Groups
Nothing Binding (social networking for writers, authors, and readers)
Online writing communities--blogs, forums, conferences, and other groups (about.com)
Open Salon (a social content site for writers, photographers, and artists, where everyone blogs or comments on what others blog)
Overbooked (crime fiction organizations and conventions)
Poets
Red Room (connect with your favorite author)
Science and medical writers
Screenwriters
Scribophile (a social writing workshop and writer's community, with online critique groups)
Sisters in Crime (Internet chapter) (alas, it appears to be disbanding in December 2010)
Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI), regional groups and gatherings
Specialty writing(network with fellow automotive writers, cat writers, dog writers, horse writers, food writers, outdoor writers, songwriters, sportswriters, travel writers, Web writers, wine writers)
The Stiletto Gang. Women writers on a mission to bring mystery, humor, and high heels to the world)
Technical writers
Therapists Wired to Write (Sarah Kershaw, NY Times, 6-3-09, on a group of therapists who form a creative writing group to help each other write about themselves, their work, and their patients -- and the last is the tricky part)
Today's Writing Community (appears to emphasize poems and stories, with discussion groups and an archive of many articles and author interviews)
Washington Biography Group (WBG), meets once a month, Monday evenings, in Washington DC
What Women Write. See, for example, this blog and conversation about writing retreats and critique groups: Writing Retreats Aren't Just for Writing
Women's National Book Association (WNBA) (national organization, with chapters in major cities, of people who work with and value books, including writers, editors, librarians, teachers, and publishing professionals)
Writer-L (a subscription-only listserv for writers of narrative nonfiction)
The Writer's Block (Scriptorium's message board)
The Writer's Chat Room
The Writers WorkSpace (a membership-based work and meeting space for writers of all genres in Chicago)
Writers and Editors One on One(magazine writers up close and personal with magazine editors)
Writer Unboxed (blog about the craft and business of genre fiction)
Writing Communities(Writer's Digests best websites for 2008, the most recent list I could find online)
Absolute Write (MacAllister Stone's Water Cooler, where writers exchange tips, share experiences)
Association of Personal Historians (for those who help others write their memoirs or develop video tributes). A group known for generously sharing knowledge of this emerging genre. (I am current president.)
AuthorNation.com (online community for authors, writers, poets, and their readers)
Backspace, The Writer's Place (writers helping writers navigate the often confusing world of Big Publishing)
Black Writers Reunion & Conference
Conferences, workshops, and other learning places
Crime fiction organizations and conventions (Overbooked)
CrimeOnline.net (forum, community of crime fiction writers, readers, and professionals from publishing and crime-related fields)
Crime Writers (a forum for those interested in writing or currently writing crime fiction--police procedurals, noir, hard-boiled, etc.)
CrimeThruTime (Yahoo discussion group on historical mysteries, authors and readers)
Critique and discussion groups
Editors and copyeditors
Fiction writers
Fiction Factor forum
Field Report (this is a writing contest, for "true life" stories, which some of my life-story writing students find addictive--but the site appears to be troubled)
Illustrators and media professionals
JacketFlap (social networking community for published authors and illustrators of books for children and young adults)
Journalists' organizations
Kitchen Tables and Regional Get-Togethers (International Women's Writing Guild)
Local and regional U.S. groups for writers and editors
Meetup groups for writers(check out those near your zip code) and the Meetup HQ Blog (to learn about other meetup groups with your special interests)
Murder Must Advertise (online discussions on best ways to promote mysteries)
Mystery Readers International, reading Groups
Nothing Binding (social networking for writers, authors, and readers)
Online writing communities--blogs, forums, conferences, and other groups (about.com)
Open Salon (a social content site for writers, photographers, and artists, where everyone blogs or comments on what others blog)
Overbooked (crime fiction organizations and conventions)
Poets
Red Room (connect with your favorite author)
Science and medical writers
Screenwriters
Scribophile (a social writing workshop and writer's community, with online critique groups)
Sisters in Crime (Internet chapter) (alas, it appears to be disbanding in December 2010)
Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI), regional groups and gatherings
Specialty writing(network with fellow automotive writers, cat writers, dog writers, horse writers, food writers, outdoor writers, songwriters, sportswriters, travel writers, Web writers, wine writers)
The Stiletto Gang. Women writers on a mission to bring mystery, humor, and high heels to the world)
Technical writers
Therapists Wired to Write (Sarah Kershaw, NY Times, 6-3-09, on a group of therapists who form a creative writing group to help each other write about themselves, their work, and their patients -- and the last is the tricky part)
Today's Writing Community (appears to emphasize poems and stories, with discussion groups and an archive of many articles and author interviews)
Washington Biography Group (WBG), meets once a month, Monday evenings, in Washington DC
What Women Write. See, for example, this blog and conversation about writing retreats and critique groups: Writing Retreats Aren't Just for Writing
Women's National Book Association (WNBA) (national organization, with chapters in major cities, of people who work with and value books, including writers, editors, librarians, teachers, and publishing professionals)
Writer-L (a subscription-only listserv for writers of narrative nonfiction)
The Writer's Block (Scriptorium's message board)
The Writer's Chat Room
The Writers WorkSpace (a membership-based work and meeting space for writers of all genres in Chicago)
Writers and Editors One on One(magazine writers up close and personal with magazine editors)
Writer Unboxed (blog about the craft and business of genre fiction)
Writing Communities(Writer's Digests best websites for 2008, the most recent list I could find online)