writersmonthly.com- Writing Alone, Writing Together: A Guide for Writers and Writing Groups, by Judy Reeves, Review by Melanie Jennings, how to have a writing group, reading clubs writing clubs

Writing Alone, Writing Together: A Guide for Writers and Writing Group (New World Library)
by Judy Reeves
Reviewed by Melanie Jennings
copyright 2003 All Rights Reserved

Visit Judy Reeves's website!
www.judyreeveswriter.com

Enthusiasts of writing groups have something to celebrate in the latest offering from Judy Reeves. Writing Alone, Writing Together, offers writers concrete guidelines to make any kind of writing group productive and peaceful. Reeves deftly analyzes each of the many kinds of groups and offers tips and suggestions for their success based on her years of experience. In addition, considerable sidebar content contains useful writing prompts and many words of wisdom from well-known writers. While there are many different kinds of groups–from writing generation groups to read and critique groups–the principle idea of Writing Alone, Writing Together is that writers thrive when they actively participate in a writing community.

…coming together to do the work in group, these writers have the advantage of learning not only from their own work, but from the work of the other writers as well. And to get feedback on what they’ve produced. In all the years I’ve done exercises from writing books on my bookshelves, and there have been dozens (of years and exercises), I’ve never felt like I was part of something larger than myself. Or felt like my efforts were taken seriously by others…And I never got any feedback, either. Left to my own inexperienced eye, I didn’t know if I’d done the thing right or missed the mark completely. There was the exercise, left dangling in my notebook.

Whether you’re interested in a read and critique group or a generation group, once you’ve found a format and a group of people you’re comfortable with, Reeves’s checklist of how to respond to writing presented by group members is sound:

• Be honest, objective, and kind. Tell how the piece affects you as a reader.

• Respond only to the work being read, not the writer’s previous work, the writer herself, her hairdo, of the company she keeps.

• Critique the elements of the craft, not the content. The writer is the only one who can say what he wants to write about, and, ideally, he will write about what matters to him, what he is passionate about.

• Be specific in your comments. Not just "I like…" or "I don’t like…" Look for a foundation on which to base your critique. Also, move away from your personal opinions of like/don’t like to what works in the writing and what doesn’t work.

I could see concrete guidelines like these printed up somewhere in your group’s meeting space.

"Beyond groups," one of the most helpful chapters of Writing Alone, Writing Together, provides information to writers considering expanding their community to include a residency or conference. Advice about why and how to pursue a residency or conference and information about the ever-expanding variety of them (write while you eat your way through France, write while you hike the Appalachian Trail, etc.) gives writers an idea of what to expect–from the price to the social expectations.

If you are currently a member of a writing group or are hoping to find or create one, Writing Alone, Writing Together is a well-written and researched guide to writing communities.

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