Halsted M. Bernard

I am aller­gic to groups. Though I don’t regret any of the sig­nif­i­cant groups I’ve been a part of, whether it was the Girl Scouts, the drama team, the local library asso­ci­a­tion, or writ­ing work­shops, I tend not to seek them out. I pre­fer to do my own things on my own time­line. I also hate feel­ing excluded; where there is inclu­sion, there is nec­es­sar­ily its oppo­site, be it for a good rea­son or no rea­son at all.

This fact about me is why it is so strange that soon I will cel­e­brate my third anniver­sary with my writ­ing group. Although it is not so strange; I love being any­where near these other writ­ers, now that we have become friends, and it is a great plea­sure and honor for me to help them with their stories.

We get together every other Wednes­day night, and either cri­tique each oth­ers’ drafts or write our own. One of the main rea­sons I have not given up after so many rounds of rejec­tion is because of our lit­tle group. We all expe­ri­ence sim­i­lar tri­als, and we all under­stand the neces­sity of these tri­als. We can rely on each other for hon­est feed­back and solid sup­port. Most of all, we gen­uinely enjoy work­ing together and want to see each other succeed.

As you nav­i­gate your own way through the tur­bu­lence and frus­tra­tion, I can­not stress enough the impor­tance of fel­low writ­ers. I found my group through craigslist, but there are plenty of other ways to con­nect with other writ­ers. You can search social net­work­ing sites like Face­book for groups devoted to writ­ing, or event-sharing sites like Upcom­ing for writing-related tags. If you have an online pres­ence, it helps to share excerpts of your work when appro­pri­ate; please note that some peri­od­i­cals may count these excerpts as “prior pub­li­ca­tions”. I will address this topic, and oth­ers, in upcom­ing posts.