Reading and Writing Group

I've been wanting to do this for awhile. I've been part of several writing groups and book clubs over the years, a few of which have fostered a great deal of creativity, critical thinking, some decent writing. I haven't been part of one in several years, and I'm desperately missing being wholly devoted to both activities. 


I'm most interested in starting up a writing group but really open to reading/writing about fiction as well. I do a book club of two with my BFF, but he lives in NYC, and while we talk all the time, we don't always get around to attending to our reading. I'll simply say here that reading - particularly reading fiction - has saved my life a number of times. Maybe literally. Certainly emotionally, and perhaps psychologically. A short story collection, a novel, and, on occasion, poetry, is where I go to escape everything, to survive, or to simply disappear. 


Some of you know that I've had quite a lot from which  to escape in the past year and a half or so: I lost my home; pretty much everything in it except for personal effects; my independence (him mom and dad, at 36!) my marriage; my dog; two nearly life-long friendships; my faith; two jobs; my health (of course when I no longer had health insurance); all forms of insurance. I declared bankruptcy, declared a dedication to a life without physical or emotional violence, generated a renewed interest and dedication to a career that had gotten the better of me with 70-something-hour workweeks, constant commuting, and little time with my toddler. There's more to the story, and less. Pretty much a fabled "new beginning" (whether I'd desired it or not). 


But you know, everyone's life sucks sometimes. It could be so much worse. You get stronger and build resiliency. etc. etc. I'm pretty open about everything as I've found it's been useful to a few people here and there, and I will talk - or write - about anything when asked. Why I am telling you all this/blogging about it? Because checking out mentally is truly the only thing that saved me, that, literally, kept me here. When my days consisted of selling items I treasured, endlessly arguing, or thinking about why I'd made the decisions I had, I would turn to a book in the evening rather than the more brutal self criticism and extremely damaging fantasizing that had become rote. If I can turn anyone on to reading and writing as therapy, I aim to. 


I'm all for the sheer enjoyment of "guilty pleasure" reading and certainly an advocate of fine-tuned academic and professional writing, but mostly I want to help people use these practices/activities as tools for healing emotionally, escaping in a moderately healthy way, leveraging their imagination in a way that yields coping mechanisms, etc.  If I could teach this skill or practice, I probably wouldn't do anything else. Such a personal transformation doesn't usually happen in a writing classroom (though it has, and it's an amazing thing to watch, of which to be a part). What does all this mean? For those of you still reading, it might mean that you'd like to read and/or write regularly within a framework that supports critical reading and discussion. My family is generally completely disinterested in anything of the sort, and I find myself craving good intellectual discussions about life, politics - and various forms of art, especially. Can't really live (well) without them. 


The only idea I've formulated enough to present is a weekly/biweekly prompt (obviously, various participants would make up the prompts for these pieces, not just me), on which anyone participating would write (or elect not to write that week, I suppose). Whether these prompts are based on current events, trends or just little meditations or vignettes on ideas (my favorite "stuff" to write, on some level), someone would assign a broad topic, and we'd all write, post and discuss (this could be a paragraph or multiple pages, depending upon level of interest, knowledge, and the like).  I find that, as a writer, I NEED a real, viable audience . . . and I need deadlines, or I won't do it. Writing's hard work.


I figured I'd keep it on this blog since a number of you want to keep it/continue it anyway. Let me know, via email or text, if this is something you might like to contribute to, even if sporadically.