Throwback Thursday - Back when I was a "real" writer (WordPress Blog Archives)

 
 

The other day, as I was searching for my haiku post poems on my WordPress blog, I found the post below from around this time back in 2015. Even though today's daily prompt for Hive Blog Posting Month is...

Tomorrow is Earth Day - how will you mark the occasion?

 
...I wanted to share this old WordPress post instead, for reasons I talk about at the end of this post. Oh, but as to why I say "real" writer in the title (meaning why I put the word real in quotation marks) - it's because every now and again, I remember there was a time I was essentially eating, breathing, and sleeping my wordsmithing ways (in between being a wife & mother), but it seems so long ago now that it almost doesn't feel "real." So I meant it in a less self-deprecating and more self-recallecating (yeah, that was weak, but as a "real" writer I can legally make up new words...lol) way.

Last bit before I get started - the "MM" in my original title originally stood for Musing Mondays, where I would ponder writerly things to start off the week. It then evolved into Microblog Mondays before becoming the current (and not day specific) Musings & Photography.

 

Back when I was a "real" writer

Original title: MM - Time to regroup
First published on: Apr 20, 2015

 

One week ago (note: actually now seven years, one week, and one day ago...time flies!) today, a dear Facebook friend (waves madly at Lorraine) posted a link on my wall. It detailed a local writers' night, happening (by New Hampshire standards) right down the road from me. Since I didn't have much time to ponder, I avoided talking myself out of it, so last Wednesday I made the fifteen minute trek and hung out with my own kind for a glorious pair of hours. By the end of the evening, I was nostalgic for the writing group I created in Raymond, back in 2008...

Newspaper clippings about my writing group

Union Leader July 2008

 
 

Union Leader May 2009

 
 

Online articles

August 29. 2008 - Raymond library's open-mike night resounding hit

November 21. 2008 - Area poets, authors share recent works at Raymond library

 
 
I turned over leadership at some point in 2010, but continued to attend here and there until late summer, 2011 when we hit the road in our camper. Then when we moved back to this area in 2012, I briefly toyed with the idea of starting a new group, since the RWG was (and is) still going, but I got a bit sidetracked by my depression recovery.

Now, the opportunity has presented itself in the form of Writers' Night Out, sponsored by the New Hampshire Writers' Project. While I still have to dot a few more Ts and cross a few more eyes, I think it's safe to say I'll have the newest location of this monthly event up and running in the very near future.

So, dear reader readers, to get the skinny on this and other New Hampshire writerly things, be sure to like and follow -

The New Hampshire Writers' Project Twitter feed

The New Hampshire Writers' Project Facebook page

My Twitter feed

My Facebook page

Happy writing!

 

 

As of today, April 21st 2022

To update the above, I did end up running a Writers Night Out for the NHWP for about three and a half years (with some breaks here and there). I created a FB group for our WNO on May 1st 2015, and the last post to the group was on October 2nd, 2018 (after I posted on September 23rd, 2018, asking if anyone else wanted to take the reins).

 

FB banner photo & group description

 

We'd started meeting in one local restaurant in their conference room, then after about a year decided to change it up for another local restaurant (iirc, it was to do with the more limited menu/higher prices for our first place). Then after about a year there (and discovering that while the menu/prices were better, having a closed space to chat instead of sharing space with sports enthusiasts trumped that...lol) we moved back to our original spot. And in checking links for this post, I've discovered they actually closed their doors in 2019, which is a bummer - they were nice people & it was a good spot.

While we didn't end up doing any Open Mike events like my original group, we did participate at least one year in the NHWP Slam Fiction event (which we ended up holding at a local bowling alley of all places!😂 ) in late February 2017.

So why am I'm putting all this on the blockchain? Mostly so I don't lose all the links & newspaper clippings on the off chance my WordPress blog goes belly up (which reminds me @nickyhavey & @fionasfavourites - I haven't forgotten your awesome shout outs and will be in touch soonish to get more info about hosting options), but also to remind myself that even if hosting in person writing groups like this isn't practical for me anymore, there might be a way to translate this to the Hive blockchain.

I know we already have some amazing writing communities here (@freewritehouse immediately springs to mind, as well as a host of others), but I'm sure there's room for another, especially with a critique group focus. In my experience, the more that are available, the easier it is to have a small amount of people in each, leading to more opportunities to have your writing workshopped by everyone.

At any rate, it's just the ghost of an idea right now, but if anyone's interested, mention it in a comment below, and I'll be sure to shout out if it ever becomes a thing.

And again - happy writing!
 
 

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