If you’re interested in forming an on-line writing group here’s some wonderful advice from two of my former students, Kathleen Guthrie and Lisa Manterfield,  (posted under Comments this week.)

From Kathleen: Our online group has been going strong for a couple of years now — we all met in your classes (at different times). It helps to have a group site, such as through Yahoo (easy to set up). We post docs there to be reviewed, and then we post docs with our comments (Track Changes mode) to a separate folder. Initially we started out with weekly submissions to each other (mostly personal essays), with comments from the previous week due at the same time. Now we're all busy with books, so full MS have changed hands. It helps to have some guidelines/goals in place before you start (such as how often and how much to submit so there's a balance of work for everyone), but then be flexible. It may turn out that you want to submit new material every other week, once a month, etc. Maybe you'd like to focus on poetry or explore short stories. Usually we're writing our own topics and genres, but we've also challenged each other with prompts or found writing contests with deadlines. Also, we meet in person once each quarter, which is greatly motivating. I live in a different city, so I attend the meeting via an extra laptop set up with Skype (video conferencing). We do prompts, talk marketing, make new goals. And for the past two years, whoever is available gets together for a one-week out-of-town retreat. I think the keys are finding a good mix of personalities and writers who are also thoughtful editors. The feedback I've received from the group has improved my writing — we've learned so much from each other. But the best part about being in a group is the support we give each other. We have a secret ritual we do whenever a member submits a piece for publication. It's very silly and feels very encouraging. My final thought for those looking for a group: Try a few until you find one that is the right fit for you. And if you don't find one, then talk to a friend with whom you know you work well and start with just the two of you. Happy writing!

From Lisa: Kathleen (my fellow writing group member) said it all…almost. Another dimension we've recently added is to meet on Skype in the mornings and write together. We set goals for the session and follow up as we go. It combats some of the loneliness of working at home alone and also makes it less tempting to go and stare at the contents of the fridge when you know you've promised a first draft of an essay or that you'll submit something to a magazine. I would definitely encourage people to form a group, throw out ideas, prompts, challenges, and see what happens. Best of luck to you.

Using Yahoo is a brilliant idea – and starting out with guidelines/goals is important too.  Maybe those of you who want to start or join a group could leave your email address under Comments so you can connect with one another. You’re all welcome to use the Comment section as a chat room if you’d like.