My Writing Organizations

Among the Colorado writing community, I am known as the "Networking Queen" and have given talks at writing conferences and to writing organizations on the importance of networking for a writing career. The photos are from the Pikes Peak Writers' 2008 annual "American Icon" reading competition. The first one shows me (in my dreaded reading glasses!) working with fellow program planner Barbara Nickless and the three judges to determine the winners. The second one shows the happy winners with their certificates and prizes. Does it look like this was a fun event? It was--it included wonderful writing, booze and chocolate desserts, so how could it not be! My number one piece of advice for fledgling fiction writers is that you should join at least three writing organizations:

1. A critique group so you get other writers to evaluate your prose and give you feedback, allowing you to improve your writing until it is publishable and to keep it of top-notch quality from then on (See the recent post I wrote at my own blog praising my critique group!).
2. A local writing organization with educational meetings and/or workshops about the business and craft of writing that you will attend and learn from.
3. The national/international organization for your genre so you start thinking of yourself as a professional writer and learn all the unwritten rules for being a professional writer in your genre.

Now, as a "Networking Queen," not only do I follow my own advice, I've joined twice that many organizations. :-) As a mystery author, I am a member of:

1. My local critique group of six fine writers, to which I've belonged for ten years,
2. Pikes Peak Writers, based in my home city of Colorado Springs, CO,
3. Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers, based in nearby Denver, CO,
4. Mystery Writers of America and the Rocky Mountain Chapter,
5. Sisters in Crime and the Guppies online chapter,
6. The Short Mystery Fiction Society.

I have gained valuable knowledge, opportunities, contacts, publishing contracts!, experience, friendships and so much more from my association with these groups. The value of these gains is waaaay more than the expenses I've incurred for membership fees, driving to meetings, etc.

But, do you want to know the secret for how to increase the benefits you gain from belonging to writing groups even more? Volunteer! Yes, take your turn serving on the board, running an event, or tackling a volunteer chore. Then you become part of the "inside crowd", trading favors with other members, and making your name and work known to them so when they come across an opportunity appropriate to you, they think of you and make that connection. I have served as a board member, organized events, driven speakers, stuffed conference registration packets, schlepped tables and chairs, waived my speaker fee, judged contests, and much more. And I'm happy to do it, because the benefits I've gained in return have been ten-fold.

So, go out there and join up, my writing friends! What writing groups do you belong to? Which ones are your favorites and which would you recommend to fellow writers?

Day of Service

by G.M. Malliet

Is it just chance that my turn to blog is on Inauguration Day? Because it does seem fitting - we've had a front-row seat for weeks to some of the preparations for the inauguration. Rather thrillingly, we've had the Coast Guard zipping up and down the Potomac River in their fast boats, no more than a block from our house. Bridges into DC from Virginia have now been blocked (and didn't that go over well with the Virginians - we can't even walk across some of these bridges). Chartered buses have been jamming the roads for days now. We've had Air Force jets steadily circling overhead - we're on the flight path to National, so we've been declared a no-fly zone for private and commercial planes. (The sky, at least, is blissfully quiet.)

But it's also been weird. If I walk down our main street, I'm liable to be walking behind some guy with a Glock strapped to his thigh. Take the Metro, and there's someone standing there with a submachine gun.

We could be at war, but we're just trying to get a president safely into the White House.

A lot of people opted out of the whole thing and are spending the four-day weekend elsewhere. I wish I could tell you I am reporting from an undisclosed location, but in fact, in the end, I wanted to feel that I was a part of this occasion (although buckets full of gold could not induce me to be among the mobs of people standing around for the swearing in - we'll watch that on TV from the safety of either our living room or Market Square).

But it all makes me awfully proud - again - to be an American. When Obama was elected, people in Europe and elsewhere said how great it was that America was finally growing up. But ... do you see a lot of black or mixed-race leaders in, for example, Europe? Sorry, because I know this gets aggravating, but I think this is America - once again - leading the way.

I digress. The topic is the Day of Service. Yesterday, as a change from the siege mentality, and wanting at least to be part of the National Day of Service, we joined the volunteers of getinvolved.gov and local high-schoolers in helping clean up the grim shores of the tidal Potomac. George Washington's Potomac is a beautiful river, as long as you can overlook the plastic bottle caps, tires, and miscellaneous garbage that has accumulated along its shores. You would probably not want to eat any fish you might manage to catch in it. All this a few short miles from the White House. These terrific volunteers couldn't overlook the destruction of our natural resources any longer, and some time ago began helping the Park Service clean up the broken beer bottles, the construction junk, and the ubiquitous plastic.

Here's a small, tiny fraction of what they managed to clear in a few hours - see below. Incredible. Nothing more to say. Just: incredible that we let it get to this. I applaud our new president for getting more people moving on this day to help save our environment.

Obama has a lot on his plate - the economy alone is a fulltime job for a hundred thousand people.

Maybe if we help take care of the planet he can focus more on the rest of everything else.