In the last 4 years or so I've begun to declare myself a writer to others, although I've enjoyed writing for decades.  I'm an avid reader, have a curious mind, love exploring "what makes people tick", and have attended / completed writers' workshops, courses, retreats, and authors' meet and greets.

Just belonging to a group dedicated to the craft would bring me joy.  My commitment is that the joy will then translate to elevated rigor in the face of my fits and starts.  

Greetings and Saluations! 

I write short pieces, seldom over 1000 words, both memoir and fiction. I'm experimenting with "skewed reality" in my fiction--not quite fantasy/sci-fi/speculative, rather a comtemporary world with a twist of magic or the supernatural. 

I would like to find a person or two who would be willing to read and critique my work in exchange for the same. Email/zoom/phone or a combination are all fine. Turnaround time about a week?

I have published a few pieces years ago but only recently started submitting again.

I am female, in my 60's and live in Pacific Time zone. Lived near Chicago for 30 years. Grew up on East Coast. I work out, am a dog walking volunteer at the Oregon Humane Society, and am experimenting with visual arts, mostly involving glue.

I'm a fiction writer and a poet; author most recently of the novel World Down This World (Adelaide Books) and the fiction collection You Can Tell Me Anything (Mint Hill Books). Over the last year, I've been working on new short stories and some short memoir-y pieces that I haven't yet "categorized". I'm interested in a group that both writes together and offers feedback on new work.

Poetry has been my preferred writing genre as a harried mother, wife, divorcee, grandmother with too many outside interests.  The focus

on a moment's experience, emotion, observation served me well for decades.  I've self-published a single volume of mixed forms and styles, "Wind Perceptions: Turning Base", reflecting on my teaching, traveling, parenting, piloting experiences.  I've a second collection almost ready, and hopefully it won't be so unweildly.  I tried my hand for several years working on a novel that is still haunting me, but

I'm struggling with form and conclusion.  I was doing well, thinking of ending it in a pandemic, but then came "Stations Eleven", and a sort of pandemic following that, and it became trite as  a conclusion.  Anti-climactic, I suppose!

I'd like to work with others who need a reader who will be both kind and honestly inquiring, suggesting.  Most of us have been to workshopping sessions that inspire us to write more, to make a few more excellent revisions, to "pour it into another form", or "put more of yourself into it", or "I'd like one more line to explain that." And we've also been to sessions that shut us down indefinitely.  I haven't experienced too much of the latter, but some.  A dismissive tone can feel crippling.

In divided times like these, open minds and hearts are a must.  I seek voices shared, not shrieked.