I've worked in IT for over 20 years but have enjoyed blogging for both my company and my personal blog for many years. My writing goal is to finish writing and to publish a book of speculative fiction short stories. I'm looking for a committed writing/accountability group. 

 I want to start by saying that I am an amateur writer trying to get to know the rules and lifestyle of the writing world. I have been trying to get as much feedback for my novel while posting it on many websites and so far I haven't gotten any. All I want in a group is a place where people read my story and give feedback that can help me to do any necessary changes that are required to make it sound more realistic.  What I am in the need of is criticism, which will help me become a good writer.   

I'm a full time physician, full time mom, part time writer who has always has too many irons in the fire.  I've had some success with publishing my short fiction in literary journals and I'm currently focusing on the novel form.  My current project is a historical/literary fiction novel spanning turn of the century Kansas to near future Texas, following the women of one family.  I'm looking for other fiction writers who are serious about their craft but also like to have fun with and take joy in their writing.  I'd love to find other writers to meet on zoom (or Discord- happy to host a server) on a monthly basis to exchange craft tips, podcast and book recommendations, publishing knowledge and to offer each other encouragement and feedback as we need it.  I'm looking more for camraderie with others in the midst of a long project than feedback; I think too much feedback too soon just kills creativity.  I'd be up for having writing sessions too, maybe taking turns with a warm up exercise and then each working on our various projects.  It would be great to connect with others who share a goal of publication and are looking for likeminded community. What's the perfect group size?  Six to ten-ish?  Sounds good to me.

I have written dozens of poems and posted a lot of them to an online forum, receiving positive feedback. I ran a poetry challenge group for two years that I judged and participated in. I have also written dozens of flash fiction and short fiction stories and posted many of them as well, a lot of them in response to challenges. Recently, I have been writing some fiction for others which has been published, several with credit given to me as the author. Five or six of my stories have been turned into comic books. I have written four complete novels, two of which I believe are good and should be published when I finally get them edited. Most of my fiction writing is science fiction, science fantasy, fantasy or supernatural - often with romance woven in. 

I am looking for a group that will give constructive feedback that will help me grow as an author, understanding the different writing styles of my subgenres. I was in a writer's group before where I was one of two who wrote outside of literary fiction and we both received quite harsh criticism of our work where it was obvious many of the members just didn't care for the subject matter. So, I suppose I'm looking for like-minded individuals who enjoy the type of writing I do.