Writer’s group

Nov 9, 2007

Today was the first day of writer's group. We met in a sunny room with the crisp smell of omelettes and bagels, tea and coffee, and a hint of something sweet. We had a brief warm up, which made me particularly nervous because I have never been a part of a writer's group before and had no idea what expectations I might have of the group, or theirs of me.
It was lovely. I had no problem expectorating words in a semblance of meaning and then reading it to the others present. I expected that my words would be pedantic and trite, but they weren't. I was able to read without feeling too much of the usual panic. I was able to share with a sense of pride.

And I was able to listen to and accept the gently provided criticism that was offered, without feeling threatened or worried that my overly sensitive ego would be crushed.

I did just fine.

Yeah, my work isn't perfect. The typos alone can be annoying... the misspelled or miswritten words and the paragraphing and organization issues... not to mention my overwhelming need to embrace the passive voice. but I am happy.

....

Following the writing group I was riding in the car down the road and came to a hobbled camel who was crossing the road. I got a great shot of his rump as we moved past
from the passenger window. I didn't zoom in, he really is that close but he was moving away so I wasn't that nervous. The kids loved it.

And I spent the afternoon watching my husband in the rowing competition on the waters of a small ocean inlet. His team lost by 20 seconds, but they did have 2 fewer men than the other team (and most of the team is women too). You can see the photos in the album. I couldn't seem to stop snapping photos of the rowing team.