So, now that I’m getting to a point where I’m considering publishing options, I’ve realized I won’t feel comfortable with anything I do until I start talking to other writers again. I don’t want to go back to the group I once knew. Not because of hard feelings or because I acted like a jerk (not knowingly anyway). It’s just I’ve said before to this same group that I was ready to get back into writing and I’d rather actually have something to hold up and say, yes, I really am serious this time.
So, yeah, I’m embarrassed by my past behavior.
Plus, there’s no guarantee I’ll be able to participate on a regular basis. I’m going to need a group where I can come and go as I please, where no one will ask where I am if I decide to hibernate for months at a time. In short, I want the benefits of friendship without actual friendship.
I know. Pathetic.
Well, either way, I think it would be good for my character (in the moral sense) to actually try getting outside myself a bit. All the crises our family has gone through over the past few years have kind of made me narrow and closed-off. Time to end that and make this stunted soul stretch even just a little.
In a quick search on the Net, I’ve found some possibilities.
Hatrack – I used to be a member there around the turn of the century. It’s a good place and a lot of fun. I liked my time there. And I didn’t keep bouncing in and out. I just kind of faded.
Forward Motion – I’ve never been a member but it was founded by Holly Lisle who gives, imo, good advice regarding writing. It’s geared toward legacy publishing, so I may have to find another forum for my self-published stuff. I looked through the public section and I like what I see so far.
Liberty Hall – I loved this forum very much. I found out about it through Hatrack and there were a number of us folks there, at least in the beginning. I’m putting it here, not because I plan on joining anytime soon, but because it’s such a good place to be. I learned a lot about writing in my time there and about what a writer’s forum could be. It’s a sponsor-only kind of place (keeps the riff-raff out) and its greatest strength when I was around was the flash challenge. Being there made my writing so much better in a year that my husband was shocked. Once I get a little further in my writing, I’ll ask to join again.
These are just a few possibilities. I’ll see what else turns up in the next week or so.
Amy Keeley 