Got back from my writer’s group meeting tonight full of enthusiasm for pursuing my own writing, and it is always this way. The group, Stone Soup from the Dallas Writers Garret, is just full of so many talented writers that it is often an experience for me of, “Wow, how can I top that?”

It’s funny, but when I think back to my original feelings when I joined the group they were one of arrogance—“I can’t learn anything from a writer’s goup”—I am abashed at how wrong I was. The group is amazingly talented, and their advice is always helpful. They have made me a much better writer, and they also provide one of the most important things a new writer needs: A kick in the pants to actually write. Great writing from others sitting in front of you is inspiring that way.

I just thought of a great idea. I get a tremendous amount of positive and constructive feedback from my writer’s group here in Dallas (Stone Soup). Much of it is in the form of handwritten notes on copies of my chapters. Instead of re-writing chapter five, I’ll go through and use the Microsoft review application to add the notes to my chapter. Then I’ll move on to writing chapter six.

Later, when I’m ready to re-write chapter five, all of the old notes will be right there to remind me as I tackle the chapter again. I may do this for the future from now on. The more I think about it, the more I like the idea of forward momentum. I’m starting to think that the Stephen King method is ideal: Be writing one novel while you’re re-writing and editing another.

I joined a writer’s group about two months ago. It is the Writer’s Garret, which I believe is based in Dallas. I came into the group with one goal in mind: To have the peer pressure work on making me write more often. I frankly felt that I was strong enough as a writer that I wouldn’t need the critique help at all. I was also dreading the quality of the writing I would have to critique. But a funny thing happened: The criticism has been excellent and definitely helped my writing, and–most surprising to me–the writing from the others has been exceptional.

One of the great things about the criticism is that they see much of what you assume a reader will overlook, and they miss much of what you assume a reader would see. Correcting these author-reader disconnects is incredibly helpful. There have been other helpful comments, some small, some big, but the important thing to me is that the group has been clearly helpful. So in that regard it has been an incredibly positive experience.

But what I probably like most about the group is how fantastic the other writers are. One is writing an epic fantasy, with grand sweeping plot points that encompass nations and society. These books are difficult to write without falling into self-parody, but this piece avoids that and is really well done. The characters are archetypes and simply written, but that is part of the genre, and they are written in a compelling manner.

Another book is a future dystopia, written from the point-of-view of a manic, possibly insane, anarchist. It is full of rambling interior monologue, full of tangents, run-on sentences, and sentence fragments–but it all works, and it works marvelously.

Another writer is writing an incredibly engaging fantasy, focusing on a simple-minded protagonist, who is following a quest about which he knows little, while the strings are being manipulated around him and behind-the-scenes. It is a very personal story, with a protagonist you truly care about.

All of these works can, and I believe will, be published. That was a challenge and inspiration I was not counting on, but it is one that will make my writing even better.