Yep, that would be me. Things have been so crazy that I haven’t been able to gather myself and blog. A lot’s happened since my last post. I finished my last Spring semester at my college. I got an internship at a military base. My grandmother got engaged. My sister got to go to DC and Kings Dominion within a week’s time (and that’s also with going to school, homework, summer assignment prep, etc). And my father is going to get command of his own troop this weekend! He doesn’t think it’s a big deal, but it really is. 🙂

Anyway, I felt I should center today’s post around something that has very recently popped up in my life: writer’s groups.

If you’re not in one, LOOK FOR ONE! I usually only relied on a select group of friends or the internet for writing advice and critique. However, I just recently started going to James River Writer‘s Writers Farmhouse events. It happens every Wednesday at a small, organic cafe about 20 minutes from my house. I’d decided three weeks ago to try it on a whim. I’m not much of the type to put myself out there and socialize, but I’m SOOOOO glad I did for this! JRW is a group of caring, supportive, talented individuals who love the same thing I do: WRITING! However, the fun is, that’s not all we talk about. During my first visit, we talked about everything from Marvel vs. DC to Turkish potatoes. And we all got along! No one was judge-y or cared if we acted like idiots. We were all there because we all shared the same passion for writing and wanted some likeminded people to share that passion and excitement with.

If you’re a Richmond-area writer, consider joining JRW, or even coming to their conference in October (because that’s an even bigger blast of fun to be had). If you don’t happen to be in this area, research, research, RESEARCH! There’s bound to be one in your city or group of towns, and even if there isn’t, there’s online writer’s groups, such as Figment, which I am also a part of, though more sparsely.

Bottom line: Find other writers and get to know them. They are the BEST support system you’ll ever find!