By April I'd received a book contract and was really excited. I was bursting to tell people, but the cliquey atmosphere prevailed and I left the April meeting without having told a single soul! I was starting to wonder why I bothered with the group at all. I'd already established that it was unlikely to further my career.
In a last ditch attempt to make friends, I decided to offer my services to the committee, suggesting I could work on the newsletter and deliver a talk on my new book. However the chair wasn't interested. He turned me down flat, saying that the members were only interested in fiction. I was on the verge of giving up, having had only had one meaningful conversation with anyone in the group all year!
However, I decided to give it another chance and joined for a further year. I'm glad I did because things started to turn around. I volunteered to read some work at a manuscript evening and when people heard a little about what I was doing, they started to show interest. Some other new members started talking to me, and I was even asked to do that talk!
So the moral of the story, is to persevere. Perhaps if your writing group is cliquey too, they just need time to get to know you. Offer to help with things and reach out to other new members if you can identify them. As for the committee - I joined for a year but have since decided that committees aren't really for me!
What's your writers group like? Has it helped to further your career? Are they welcoming and friendly?
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