The Writing Circle

I walked into the room not knowing what to expect.

I saw a post on Bluesky that shared a link to a gathering that was called The Writing Circle, which was held at the library that is in my part of Ottawa. The group met on the third Thursday of the month, at three o'clock.

Except next month, when it meets on November 27.

I first learned of this group in April, but because the family and I were preparing for our trip to Peru and I had other obligations on days when the group met, I decided I would wait until the group started again, if they did, indeed, start up again.

Because I was in the midst of writing my first draft of Dark Water, I was intrigued. Would this group of fellow writers—novice or experienced—be able to share ideas and provide constructive criticism to one another? Would the Writing Circle help me to be a better writer?

I saw that the group was convening again, this month, and made the decision go check it out. Being only 10 minutes away from home, I thought why not.

When I walked into the room, there were two people there. One introduced herself as the coordinator for the group, Elsbeth; the other, I'm afraid to say, is a name I have forgotten: she only made a short appearance (I think she works for the library) before leaving me alone with Elsbeth.

No one else joined the group when three o'clock chimed in.

We talked a bit about ourselves and our experience with writing. While Elsbeth isn't a writer by profession, she writes reports as part of her job and turns to poetry and prose in her spare time.

As the leader of the Writing Circle, Elsbeth brings themes to the meetings. For this meeting, the theme was trees. We read a couple of poems and then took five minutes to take something from the poems, as inspiration, to write something about trees.

Here's what I wrote in those five minutes:

Trees don't seek attention, though they get it all the same. Our eyes are naturally drawn to their beauty, whether their leaves wave to us in a gentle breeze or whisper as that wind is a part of them.

A tree gives us shade, gives us shelter from the rain. I gives us the very air we breathe. It keeps us alive.

A tree can dance with the sun, the beams peeking through like playful laughter. The smell of a tree through the year is as varied as the changing seasons: the moist musk of spring; the fresh sweetness of summer; the dry crackle of autumn; and the cool freshness of winter.

I know, it's crap. But it was a brain spill for which I was given no time to prepare, only the time to write it out by hand (and I haven't written with a pen and paper in a long time!).

As the person who came up with the theme, I'm sure Elsbeth had some idea about what she wanted to say. In my opinion, that's not exactly fair.

Perhaps with more people—I was told there are generally six to eight people in the group—it would have been better. And when Elsbeth asked me what I'd like to see in the group, I said I didn't think I could come up with expectations when I came with none to begin with.

I wanted to get a feel of the crowd before coming up with expectations. But in the meantime, I was hoping that we would share our writing without being put on the spot to come up with something.

I'm a thinker. I need time to come up with something to write. It's only then that I can get going, but only if that idea moves me.

In the past, with this blog, I would often force myself to sit in front of the computer, thinking that staring at the screen would bring words to me. I can't do that anymore: I need to have an idea before I start a post.

They're not always great posts but they aren't as spontaneous anymore.

We ended the Writing Circle a bit early but I promised that I would return. I want to see how the group works with several people before I determine if it's right for me.

The only inspiration I took from the first meeting was to write this post as soon as I returned home.

There's another writing group that will meet, tonight, in Kanata. I'm going to check that one out and will share that experience in a future post.

I've written for so long in a silo that I think it'll be good to get some perspective. And perhaps these groups are just what I need.

How about you? Are you looking for inspiration for your writing? Why not drop in, next month, and see what this group can do for you?

Happy Friday!