Andrea Simon (reprinted from Hasty Book List, On Writing Communities)

My Two Writing Communities

I have two writing communities that are very special to me. Both have continued to meet during the pandemic via Zoom and have provided a lifeline as we navigated the increasingly isolated confusion of our worlds.
The first writing group has been meeting for over thirty years. We are currently seven members with different writing styles and genres. We have written—and often published—works of historical fiction, poetry, memoirs, and novels. Our work spans adult, young adult, and children. Some of us are also artists and use our skills in our literary endeavors. Six of the women, excluding me, originally attended workshops conducted by famed author Madeleine L’Engle, and fanned out into more intimate groups. Through the years, these groups continued to gather together, often at the home of Madeleine L’Engle. Although the group I joined was based in New York, nowadays, we continue to meet virtually since we have dispersed geographically.

Since the pandemic, our writing group has produced a chapbook, two novels, a young adult novel, and a nonfiction book on a noted painter. We will publish some of this work and others remain in the querying stage.
During our meetings, we each discuss our work or speak about other personal matters. We encourage each other with tips on querying agents, publishers, publicity, and marketing, or just the often-frustrating aspects of the business. Mostly, we are long-time friends and have attended weddings, as well as funerals for members of the larger Madeleine L’Engle circle.

My other writing group emanated from an online course I taught on writing about our mothers for the Story Circle Network, an international nonprofit organization devoted to helping women share the stories of their lives through all forms of writing. The course attracted a range of eight very talented and accomplished women, three of whom were from my writing group, from all parts of the United States, and one woman from Australia. It was so successful that we continued to meet as a monthly group and share our writings and other meaningful work. Not all of us are published authors, but we are all “writers” and work with prompts and other stimulating exercises. We have tackled numerous subjects, including colorful relatives, life in the pandemic, narcissists we have known, and, of course, our favorite topic: our mothers. We are currently planning an anthology of our work.

We call ourselves the Lady Bunch, so named after the rectangular format of the actors in the iconic television show, The Brady Bunch. As we appear in our three-line Zoom grid, we greet each other with affection and delight.
Both groups have provided me with professional and emotional support. I am thankful to call them colleagues and cherished friends.