===== 00:00 to 00:10 =====

okay everybody ready first off I just want you to go around and introduce
yourself and what you would like to get out of a writing group. Do you want to start? My name is
Julie Bavin and I would like to try to develop some more discipline in writing. So that you do it
more? So I do it a little bit more consistently, yes. Julie is a phenomenal writer. She has the
comedic timing that I envy so I would like to see her write more also would you like to go Casey
um my name is uh oh hold on my name is Casey um I am you said that this is what we're looking for
um well some of it is just called I do better collaboratively no matter what I'm writing or
what kind of art I'm doing or anything it's the it's the it's task it's it's sitting down and
having somebody sit with and back and forth.
I think that in writing in particular, I would look at it somewhere to collaborate
or to bounce ideas or just support.
I'm not looking technically for structure.
That's what that means for you, but not really looking for a specific structure.
The collaboration is what I'm here for.
I put writing companionship, so I understand.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I'm Brenda Griffin, and I just really want to learn to focus more on being clear about what I'm writing and staying focused to get my plan across.
Okay, excellent.
So, my name is Kristy Kelly, and I have been writing for about 30 years now.
I am a published author.
I have been published seven times.
I have been published in numerous, in the news, in other news outlets and magazines.
Most of that I take for granted, but mostly it's because I'm very funny when I write.
People can relate to that.
My day job is I write like the news.
I am the managing editor for News News, the premier and basically only news outlet for
three counties.
So this writing group was active a few years ago, and COVID kind of winded it down.
And so when I called the library to say, hey, do you still have the writing group going?
And they were like, no, but a little birdie told me you'd be willing to run it.
So here we are.
Be careful what curiosity brings you.
If you'll turn your attention to the screen behind us, this is a website that I built for this writing group.
It has tons and tons and tons of information on it, but mostly because that's I'm a little extra.
All I'm asking everybody to do is to just register.
There is a QR code here if you would prefer, or you could just go to writinggroup.kristykelly.com.
and all you do to register is you come over here and you click on register
you fill out very simple it's not a mac information and it just lets me know who
has access to the site because what we're doing is we're going to help you build a portfolio
lighting portfolio that you can keep to yourself that you can share with others that you can have
others critique in the group but once a month on a thursday evening is hard for a lot of people to
come to so there were people who wanted to participate and wanted to join so I
said okay let's find somewhere in the middle to meet and this was the solution
that I came up with I will always add to it as things come through but first and
foremost all I'm asking tonight is you just register and that like I said that
will help you it'll create your profile for you one of the things I want to share
about writing in this group is that if someone asks you to critique something or read something
that you never lead with your visceral reaction that no matter what you're reading or whether you
agree or disagree that you deliver feedback with the intent of helping and that is probably my only
writing rule is if someone hands you like if i'm going to read something that i emphatically
disagree with and I have I do it every day um smile and tell them what a good job they're doing
and hopefully offer helpful ways to improve what they're writing and the reason why I'm kind of
leading with that is we're in an environment where this quite I told you my husband to be here
you can fill out your handy dandy name card
this is Derek
I already lost the reason why you did this is because the environment
oh the environment that we're in we have lost the ability to communicate in ways where we disagree
and i think that is so important especially in written form because in person you can take
inflection you can take tone you can take eyebrow movement body language is is it helps deliver a
stronger message but in the written form you get what you get and they take it every which way they
want to so it's important for us to effectively communicate when we're giving feedback of what
the intent with which we want to provide not with how we feel about the piece that we're reading
and i think that's a good foundation of just starting with kindness well hello i was hoping
i'd see you i had a lot of difficulty when if you pick one of the ones there's an agenda and
a book and a thing for you here already um when texting became like a major source of communication
because i wasn't getting facial and body and and yeah like everything seemed everything that i read
seemed to be like why are you so cranky what you know like it was it took me a minute to be
like to calm down and just be like oh because everyone's in a rush i guess yes and a lot of
people would say that they're like julia i always know when it's from you even if you're on your
husband's phone because you use capital letters and punctuation i was gonna say there's also a
a generational gap you have a name card if you'll fill it out and all you do is put your name what
your writing style is in three words or less and what you would like out of this writing group
if i misspell something even with christine i know she knows what i say i always put a little
asterisk and the correct word she does and i know i know you've never said anything but i
hunt is always just like don't do that my brain just automatically read it and i'm reading it
I was just about to say there's there's also a generational gap when it comes to texting and
communication because I use well I'm worse now but I used to use all of the punctuation in text
I sent a text message like it was an email if you do that to somebody under the age of like
20 25 maybe they find it insulting like you're yelling and you're reprimanding and there's too
much to read. So all of that is to say that while sharing feedback, let's kind of keep all of these
things in mind that everybody's different. Everybody's going to take your feedback any
kind of way. So just make sure that your intent to deliver it is to help and not about what they
actually wrote. Would you like to introduce yourself now, Derek? I'm Derek White.
what would you like to get out of the group
I don't know
I have written poetry
and stuff from when I was younger
but I'm a talker not a writer
I let her do the writing
oratory is absolutely a
it absolutely is
it's a kid's own
Would you like to introduce yourself?
Well, my name is Missora Pennefort, I'll take this, I admit that, but as far as writing
is concerned, creative nonfiction is definitely my genre and I'm here because I need to, I
socialize with blindness.
I think they're different.
I agree.
I absolutely agree.
It helps keep the creative juices going, too,
a lot of times.
You know, we surround ourselves with
the same people.
Fun fact, the first time I met Winsara,


===== 00:10 to 00:20 =====

was at the previous writing group no it was here okay so now we all know who we
are
all right so let's kind of just go over what counts as writing I know that's a
wide wide range of things but everybody come up with one to two of their
preferred writing methods or preferred writing styles or just something you
like to write about they would like to go first
you like journaling? Yes. When I'm writing in my journal that I can describe things that I can't describe to a person that's standing on this table like little incidents that happen after you live the life of working in things where I often live through my life that
at risk but now some little things that happen i see them as risky um for the three weeks ago
oh no
so um writing about it really makes it different it makes me be able to see it from my point of view
I like that because you're also leaving your story behind like when you when you
do there will be a tangible proof that you will hear on this planet I love that
and in kinston yes
it is kinston has a lot of history there's a lot goes on this town that
deserves to be documented on the regular
well in this new season of my life i would have said academic but now
moving from that portion to this new season i would say i'm going to be
writing emails more um i'm going to be returning back to
rotting grants for the shelter and so those are going to be some of the
practices that i'll be carrying on excellent i included a whole portion on grant writing on
the website you most of it was information you shared with me previously so you already know it
but but we're starting it so we'll point people in the right direction and we'll go over the
website in a second i just want everybody to to kind of just get a feel for what they like to write
about I mean I can call on you like we're in kindergarten or you can go
sorry oh this is Brenda can you turn your car a lot of I do keep a journal it
probably not for the most healthy reason I suppose maybe like I'll keep the
journal for my I think that's very healthy it keeps the other people alive like I say often I'm
like when I die these go right in the trash I do not want them getting in the wrong hands and then
everybody will stop crying immediately and won't miss me a bit um but I also I like to
i like to be supportive and i like to try to find a fun twist on that so so i appreciate it like you
said that like i have good comedic timing she really does yeah but but i i also i kind of fancy
myself a good storyteller too so i mean i think that's the other part of it my father used to say
you know all the time when we were kids you know like the world is filled with doctors and lawyers
and garbage men were running low on storytellers so um and hit my dad was a great storyteller you
know i mean like so um you know i think i think we did pick it up my my mother was an english
teacher so we did that's i think that's part of the reason why i aggressively journal too because
it was kind of a not a requirement but it was heavily suggested all the time when we were kids
So sometimes even now when I do it, I still feel like I'm not being punished, but it's something my mother tells me to do.
But yeah, that's pretty much, I would like to learn maybe to write a grant too.
How would it be beneficial for you, especially with the kitchen?
I wrote one grant like 20 years ago.
A lot of my lab haven't really been in one particular kind of writing.
A lot of it has been more communicative and therapeutic lately.
My partner is long distance right now.
So we, I also don't communicate very well.
I've seen images, and I say that seems silly, some people think that they're like, no, I have an emotion, I don't have a word for it, I've seen for it, know what it looks like to feel that and be there in that, so I've been trying to work on being able to put that down on a page, explain it, because making the art for it takes forever, so I've been writing it, but writing it's still far faster than trying to put painting up together.
So, or drawing. And so, trying to get that a little bit more clear. So I guess that would be fiction, fictional, descriptive.
I also have had a few different actual creative endeavors that I've built over years that have not actually gotten into actual words.
I have them in outlines. One of them is massive. I'm really tired of just looking at the outline.
And then also I would like to get back into doing some non-fictional stuff and that's almost like record keeping or interview style just because I have questions like I went to the artist group recently and I have a tendency to overtake by if somebody says they're doing something and I've got like eight questions off of that.
of the world coming on, but then I don't ever write down the answer to what the question
for, the questions kick, so I need to start audio recording, but, oh, so anything, I'm
just trying to get back into writing in a way that is a little bit push along and for
projects
group accountability helps with things like that goal setting is is something
that I genuinely believe in and goals are not necessarily numerical or an
amount or a finished product there are I got up this morning and stared at a
cursor for five minutes, but I didn't move for those five minutes. That's a win as far as I'm
concerned. So I think part of the perk of having a group like this is so that we can do those
things. Like Brenda can check on one side and say, hey. Hello, welcome. Come on in, have a seat.
When you get to your seat, there's a name card. I just ask that you fill it out.
And then when you have it all filled out, you'll introduce yourself.
Would you like to go next?
Well, if I were to have a writing style, it would be chaotic with a splash of hilarity.
So it would definitely fall towards the Douglas Adams type of thing where anything can happen at any time, anywhere.
Nothing is non-respect true because that's how I think, that's how I live.
you know i just you know i can think it you know i'd love to do the biodiversity i don't think
things have to be limited to unless they've already got you know certain things have to do
their standards but they do not like take outside the box just not with vampires
look look look look let's just set the record straight as writers as writers they all we all
appreciate writing but vampires do not sparkle when they're exposed to sunlight i'm sorry y'all i had to
What would you like to introduce yourself?


===== 00:20 to 00:30 =====

I have one book published. I also have one of my poems published in Anthology. My first book is called Road to Home. It was published out of my other college. Our lady's got the name of Dr. Pepper Whelps. She published my work. I have my first book signing right here to go.
wonderful welcome my name is Kristy Kelly I'll be facilitating this group and
this is Derek Julie Cassie Winsara and Brenda so we've gone around and what
we've done is we've we've introduced ourselves which is what you've done and
everybody spoke about what type of writing they're looking to grow or do
more of or just what type of writing is interesting to you okay all right we're
going to I'm going to point everybody's through attention to the television we're
to just review the website that i have set up for for this group so what like i said what i asked
and if you don't have if you don't have access to a computer if you don't have access to this is
totally fine this is just because there were people who couldn't join that wanted to and i
wanted a place for us to have information access so if you can and would like to i am asking that
you register that will fill out some information that'll give you some information but what it does
is it creates for you a writer page so you'll be able to share your work if you
want to or you'll have a private place for your work to just collectively keep
it there a place for you to write what you want or share or ask for feedback
from the group or from me you don't have to share anything publicly it is
completely up to you so there's a whole bunch of information on it but one of
the things that I wanted to go over briefly I don't know if any of you have
ever heard of a writing round robin but I am a huge huge fan of these as a way
to build a writing I just lost my train of thought a writing habit so what a
round robin is is you create a character anybody you want they can do whatever you want you can
your imagination is the only thing that is limiting you to this and we each periodically
add to an overall story as that character the reason why I like to do this is it's very informal
there's no right or wrong you could write absolute garbage or you could absolutely write
the best thing that's ever been written in life and we're just going to go forward with it because
it is an evolving story that everybody contributes a little bit too you do not
have to this is purely up to you that is just one of the ways to help you get
back in the habit or into a habit of making yourself right consistently for
no reason because we can all write for a reason every person here can write the
grant if they need to can write the article if they need to can write the
call them if they need to but what we're all kind of saying is we would like to be
a little more consistent than need so getting active in writing in small ways
is very beneficial another thing that's on here for you whenever you like is I'm
releasing a new prompt every Monday you can write one about it if you'd like
there are 52 there is one for every Monday we're only meeting once a month
you can submit it in the inside the website if you'd like me to review it
just for some feedback you can publish it for public feedback if you'd like but
again just in the habit so kind of get to give yourself a mental note on Mondays
I'm going to release a new prompt if you'd like to write it it worth a shot
they're not hard one of them says write about a photograph that does not tell the whole truth
how many times have we seen a photograph online well we knew that was not the whole story
so this is just another fun way to help you on your own time in your own space
develop a better writing habit you don't have to use these if you want to write about something
that's going on your own life do that instead just kind of get in the habit of thinking monday
is prompt day. You can write a prompt or pick a prompt. I'm not going to ask you, did you do your
homework? I'm not going to say, well, I would like to see it, please. And thank you. We are
all adults. If you would like me to see it, if you would like me, I will absolutely, I live for
things like that. So please, please feel free. I love reading what people write. And it doesn't
have to be fiction. It doesn't have to be nonfiction. You could write your prompt as a poem.
There is no wrong way as long as you are making steps to take your writing and moving it forward.
That is my only goal with the round robin or with the prompts is to give you opportunities to write what you want to write on a more consistent basis.
And once we have some things to do feedback on, then we can spend some time doing verbal feedback, face-to-face feedback in groups.
People aren't always comfortable with that.
you'd be amazed at how many people are going to be really really hurt if you didn't love
everything they wrote and I know this to be true because I'm one of those people
when I so I write a lot of columns for noose news and some of those columns
do not hit the way I intended them to hit and I will get some of the
most entertaining emails that I'll get on you
and it stings every single time I don't care what they say I don't care how thick-skinned I am that
day when somebody tells you something that you wrote that you took your time and effort and energy
into sucks or is whatever they meant in that moment i feel it on the inside
so i first of all i should be mindful of that with writing um you're not going to love what
everybody writes you're not going to hate what everybody writes the goal is to find a happy
medium, but with the understanding that we're all here for the same goal. We're all here for
better opportunities to write more consistently, to communicate more effectively, and to showcase
the talents that we have. So there are QR codes if you have not already registered for the website.
They're here. They'll be here. The website itself is just writinggroup.kristykelly.com.
I tried to make it super easy.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
And she's still going to send it to me in text, right here.
But you did it.
I did.
I stopped everything I was doing.
I was like, oh, she's making me do small work, okay.
Not a lot of homework.
Okay, so I thought it would be a fun activity to -- I wanted -- hang on, I'm going to back
up a little second.
I gave everybody a composition notebook.
First of all, I love composition notebooks.
It's when I did all of my early writing in.
So there's a little bit of a style to there,
but mostly because if you do not have access to a computer,
if you do not have a cell phone, this
is all you actually need to write.
Or a pencil.
Or quill in an ink.
Or probably stones on a wall.
Eventually, we're going to get down to nothing,
and we could still communicate through writing.
So I don't care what the topic is.
I don't care what you want to write.
I simply want you to write for the next 10 minutes
about whatever your heart desires, as fast as you can,
as many words as you can, and make it.
There are no rules.
There is no grammar.
There is no editing.
Just write for 10 minutes.
it doesn't have to be longhand if you prefer to text on your phone use that
instead when I figure when I don't have something to write about I start with my
day. I woke up this morning. I had coffee. Okay.
Thank you.
Thank you.


===== 00:30 to 00:40 =====

[Quiet individual-writing period; no reliably intelligible speech.]


===== 00:40 to 00:50 =====

remember I write for art so this is actually a painting dappled sun descended
from chlorophyll tinted leaves as birds sing among the canopy the robin the
finch the cicadas chime in in their coral rolling songs as leaves rustle
nearby the scent of wet fertile soil and the moist mushrooms decay the
decomposers hard at work in the forest floor beneath the leaves of the ivy ferns and fallen
much as i whose head lie upon lichen cushion moss kissing cheek and lift the frills of
nearby fungi visible the wind caresses a long exposed flesh the tickle the whispering divine
voice. Take rest here, she says to the cup of my ear. Bake in the surrounding world and fret not
for the exhaustion within your soul. Listen near, there, the water, fresh to drink, resplendent
and rejuvenated. It is not far, falls which know the corpse in which you presently inhabit.
Rest momentarily, for the journey is not much longer.
Crystal liquid to cleanse from toils pasted to earthy skin.
And two, a voice nearby, a path his own to break.
I pause, I hurt, I rest, I rise.
Very nice.
I can see the imagery.
Thank you.
That's over.
I wish I could do that.
Okay.
This one is called Ramblings of a Borderline Heathrow.
Ooh, yes.
Sitting on my porch has sweat rolls into crevices that are unholy.
I begin to understand the thought process of a chicken prior to being introduced to the rotisserie spit.
Who gave the sun permission to be so rude with the intensity of the heat?
I need to have some stern words and a shaken angry fist in them for sure.
but one thing about it no matter how hot it gets folks in my town continue with a don't stop
won't stop attitude that is admirable beyond words knowing that every person that i encounter
is just as miserable as i am yet all i see is smiles for miles hell my wife's bestie is a chef
and i have no clue how she suffers a commercial kitchen on a daily basis from may through september
maybe our brains have just been stewed and boiled for so long that crazy from the heat
isn't just a byline but it's how we roll in north carolina very nice
what either of you like to me do it i'm much more realistic than what you guys are
i don't see the pictures you guys see it i don't see it in my head but
I appreciate it and I love it when I read it and visualize it. I just can't do it. So when I think
about a door that I've crossed more than once, I think about the numerous community bond projects
that Woodrow Life completes during the year. Each project has a focus of helping, supporting,
and encouraging others in our local community. It is our goal to enrich the lives of others
who are in need or experiencing difficult season in their lives even though it's our goal to
encourage and bless others we walk away as members from each project feeling encouraged
due to our dedicated efforts to make the lives of others just a little bit better very good
Are you going to read yours or do you want to pass one, Sarah?
I want to read it.
Okay.
I went to pass two that I'm really big on them all.
Me too.
So I woke up confused and started my way through an entire day.
Upon leaving home, I headed to a little bit to do cardiac filming, yoga, and great lifting.
It encouraged me that I could take advantage of a chance to get friends.
Competing with my workout group to see if they were in better health, whereas they were so sufficiently younger than I am, just for kids.
I managed to get agreement from the other participants and a suggestion to increase the invitation.
I am anticipating monitors this month on a position I have had less than a year,
which, quite frankly, seems overly and unnecessarily complicated.
I am not fearful of failure to pull together what I need to to set up ways of getting it in shape.
I have started by eliminating obvious problems and made a tremendous dent in accomplishing my goal.
I worked as, again, I don't know what this is, as something beyond the hours, oh, as usual, beyond the hours required, because the sooner I get it done, the better I'll feel, and I'm not sure how I feel about the position, but I enjoy my staff mates tremendously.
I have never had a better team to work with, and I have learned from them that I am not alone.
I love that for you.
I also went, like, a little more what's actually going on with mine, so I'm with you on this.
Today I was nervous, but I knew that none of the fears I carried would bear fruit.
I was nervous because I don't always feel confident in myself for what I'm doing.
It's hard to put one foot in front of the other while holding an albatross of anxiety around my neck, so I went anyway.
I overprepared. I killed half a dozen trees with printed paper and got ready to help others be better at a skill set that I love.
Writing matters because words matter. Words matter because without them, we are all feral children of a lost society.
I believe this, so I get up every day and write a few more words.
So here we are together proving that words matter and we are all of the mindset.
We want to do more and be more consistent.
There's companionship in that need that lessened the anxiety about leading a writing group.
Writing doesn't have to be a solo experience when you can lean into a group.
I didn't know what else to write.
So we've all now, when we walk out of here today, you will walk out with the knowledge that you independently wrote for 10 minutes.
So now your day one is behind you.
It's already over.
There is nothing to be anxious about.
What I would like for you to do is once a week do that, whether it be a prompt that we talked about,
whether it be something independent that you yourself want to work on.
i would prefer it be something you yourself want to work on writing for the sake of writing is
great for the skill set but it also makes it boring write what you enjoy write what you want
to write about write what happened that day if you're writing about your life definitely keep
writing about your crazy husband in the stories because i enjoy reading them oh i was writing about
you're crazy but the point is to set yourself a goal when i was at my height of writing books my
goal for writing was 500 words every day i didn't arbitrarily pick that number stephen king in his
book told me that that was a number i should achieve and i am a literal person so i took that
heart oh my god isn't that the worst though to be like and i missed it by three words
all right should be suicidal i'd write more so um when i first started writing i read so many books
but i will say on writing by stephen king helped tremendously with habit building um and that that
was fundamentally something that i desperately needed because i was a when the mood strikes me
right person for a very very long time and while that is beneficial sometimes when the mood strikes
you you can write absolute brilliance but you can also write absolute brilliance on a tuesday when
you have to as long as you build up that skill set so your day one is behind you so week one
you're done yay so is anyone interested in creating a character for the round robin
were you here when i talked about around robin okay good
so around robin is just a story we can contribute to together as a team everybody has a character
they create it's kind of like dnd for writing well dnd that's dungeon crawl right now i am on book
four all right yeah there he goes now i say i'm on three my bro we just did my brother's birthday
we just the other day we made a dungeon crawler carl birthday cake


===== 00:50 to 01:00 =====

Oh, that is fabulous.
Because of the Ken doll.
I did a pool makeover.
You got a princess donut?
You got a princess donut?
Made a cat, one of them paint and wash cats.
Oh, that is fabulous.
Into a princess donut on an inflatable donut from a bar being set up.
Took some of them cute tiny slug things, like choppers,
and then I repainted them into sluggalos.
And, like, absolutely.
So in a round robin your character is limited to how you write them. Other people can use your character when they write but they have to use it within the confines with which you wrote them so if you'd like to join you just go on you create a character for your for the
for the round robin i will open up and i will let everybody know i will get to how everybody
would like to be communicated with in a minute but um it's like i said it's another way
for consistent writing but this writing is just for fun it has no purpose there is no seriousness
we are not going to write a masterpiece we are not i mean at best it's going to be absolute chaos
which is what i prefer personally so it's just a way for you to contribute writing in a funny way
that is beneficial to help you move forward with the consistency of it but there's no stress because
i promise you it doesn't matter it's just a great way to be creative collectively so if you would
like to do that i do encourage you to go to the website and you come over here under writing it
says round robin. And it gives you examples of characters. And you just create one. There
are no rules. If you want to create a god of gods, create one. If you want to create
an asphalt demon who tears up cities, create one. If you want to be an average Joe who works
at a gas station create one the only limit is yourself that's why it's a fun activity because
there are no rules well as we get into it you're not allowed to kill other people's characters that
is a rule um but if you do think of it as a dnd style way without all the work you just
independently create your own character and allow others the opportunity to write with you
i think it would be a fun way to do it we can publish them internally so that other people
cannot see our nonsense but what we collectively can see our nonsense i'm a huge fan i miss doing
these i i genuinely hope you guys want to do this with me because they're just fun
and it's an unserious way to grow your skill set because consistency matters more than what you
write I write news every single day I'm still terrible at writing news but what but I'm better
today than I was five years ago so I'm great at writing columns though I can always tell if it's
if it's just like a press release from somebody or if you if I actually took the time to write it
yeah yeah or if you dressed it up I can be like that that you didn't write that you didn't write
I'm sure it's that bad.
I can tell it's that bad.
So there's all kind of other resources.
There are lessons.
There are, I'm going to click on that.
And all of these are for your own time, for your own convenience, at your own pace.
At your own pace.
There is no right or wrong way to do this.
It's just ways to help you become a better writer in what you want to write.
So whether it's academic, grant, reflective writing, which we all covered tonight that
we'd like to get better at.
There's exercises for that.
Another thing that I did, I'm a big fan of the Gutenberg Library.
So I have connected, I forget what it's called, public domain books that match all the writing styles.
So if you see something on here, you should be able to click on it.
And it should take you to that book so that you can become better familiar with that writing style.
There are a glossary of terms, and this is important because we're getting ready to do
a feedback exercise where you tell everybody how you prefer to have feedback.
So there's an entire section here of things that you, when you do choose to give feedback,
be mindful of the words that you use and the purpose.
So there's a lot of different things in here of ways you could say something without saying
I didn't like that or I did like that there are information on the styles of
writing grant writing purposes I'm not going to go through it all you guys can
definitely do that at your own convenience there is a calendar that
will list all of the prompts and when the next meetings are again this is all
for your own pace you don't have to turn anything in there's no assignment
this is just beneficial to you if you ever get lost on the website you just
click all pages and you'll find your way back any questions on this so far
We were just talking about that last night, about pinning a check.
That's what's funny.
That's hilarious.
I watch it.
It's a Google message.
You can go to a favorite section.
This morning, I had to bring my phone to Kristy because, and I think that's exactly what happens.
Lots of times when I'm stupid about my stuff, my phone is still on.
And so I'll touch something and I move it all around.
Because more than once I've had to say, can you get that button to the back where it's supposed to live on my phone?
And this morning, even you had to be like, why isn't it doing it?
Because I try, because I have watched her do it plenty of times.
I've been like, oh, I didn't know they moved.
And I think that's what I did.
But yeah, once it was gone, it was gone.
In my head, it was gone.
But I knew it wasn't really gone.
She was fine.
I had asked her one day to help me find my G, which her whole office thought was hysterical.
because i couldn't my google button was gone
so giving and receiving feedback is one of the biggest benefits to a writing group but it's also
something that can be absolutely detrimental feedback given in the wrong tone or with the
wrong intent will stop somebody else from writing they'll stop somebody else from coming to a group
like this and it ultimately can end a group as as we've seen in the past in not only previous
writing groups here but in others so one of the things that I take very very seriously is another
person's feelings especially with something as subjective as writing there's so many things I
read that I don't love and wish had never been written but I still value that somebody took the
time to do it so what I would like everybody to do is take a moment get a
clean sheet in your little notebook and write out how you prefer to receive
feedback and how you pursue how you prefer to give feedback then you don't
have to rewrite it you can just say it also if you'd rather use the website
please do I actively encourage you absolutely can once you register out all
the things will be available to you
i do too i do that with i i when i write a column especially if i'm going to publish it for news
news i will ask ai a variety of questions i will say first of all how is like is this going to get
me in hot water and is it sensitive where it needs to be sensitive is it am i stepping on to
like i because sometimes when i write things that i think the issue are very black and white like
there's it there's only one way to see it and i am reminded time and time again that that is not
the way other people think so i i i like that ai can give you that immediate feedback i'm a fan
oh gosh no i don't even like what i write all the time
i have an entire folder that is called um the garbage pile
it is stuff that i've written that in the moment i meant every word
and i don't want to delete it because i wrote it but i would be offended if my children read it
so


===== 01:00 to 01:10 =====

I got to say, you call it a trash pile like if I write it and you don't feel good, you don't feel like it's universal, I keep all the good stuff that I think good over here, put all the stuff over here that won't trick me off.
I'm a fan. Everything we write has value. It has value because it came from our brain and we wrote it.
it might not have value to other people, but it does have value.
So when everybody's done writing, we're just going to go around
and everybody's going to say how they prefer to get feedback
and how they prefer to give feedback.
And it wasn't very clear in the question,
so I made it a little bit ambiguous on purpose.
But what I mean by that is, do you prefer oral feedback?
Do you prefer a text message, an email, a smoke signal?
Do you prefer give it to me straight?
Do you prefer gentle kid glove only?
Like there's a lot of ways to deliver feedback.
But if the other person knows it ahead of time,
they know how you prefer your feedback, give it.
It's a little easier to give.
Do you want to start, Brenda?
I will.
When I was writing as a teacher, I always had a buddy partner and we read each other's
work.
Whether it was an email to a parent that we wanted to make sure it sounded right and that
they could clearly understand what we were saying.
Or if the two of us were Lottie and Grant, we wanted someone else to read it and we were
buddy readers to read with each other's work and help each other make sure we said exactly
what we wanted.
Okay.
So I kind of like that peer-to-peer.
Excellent.
Okay.
And how do you prefer, do you prefer to give it the same way?
We did.
Okay.
We both just kind of did it together.
Okay.
Excellent.
I really like an honest response because I can't think very differently about them, and
I appreciate suggestions that might include comfort, and I really prefer to have an effort
to do.
Okay.
I prefer to respond to the questions because, once again, sometimes I might not understand
I might not understand something as that person really voted for that person.
I pretty much like, I won't honest, you know, I don't, I can, I'm not thin-skinned, the one thing I ask is, you know, don't tell me what I should do.
But you can offer, I don't mind offering suggestions because now people tell you, well, I think you should.
That's my only thing.
But other than that, you pretty much, I'm pretty thin-skinned.
However, I give it a lot more tact on the opposite end.
So I definitely don't.
Except when he's sending videos about celery.
so good when i when i finish it it's scathing it was delicious i thoroughly enjoyed that you
enjoyed it i forgot that you didn't read yours or did you read yours i did not read mine because
it's not finished oh it makes sense okay okay it makes sense derek but i can't wait to read it
people just be like she's just renting like crazy. Who would like to go next on their feedback?
Okay.
Okay. Do you prefer to give it the same way?
Do you prefer to give feedback the same way?
I do.
Okay.
Well, for what I get, whatever the first thing comes from somebody's mind, I'm fine with.
I'm not looking for, like, as much in somebody reading it other than what comes first to mind.
But when I am, because I've done what's called beta-ing on the internet, which is beta-ing, and then editing as well, I've done both.
I usually clarify with whoever the individual is, where, what level do you want me to start with?
How far, how much do you want me to?
Because I can give you a general spell check, a grammar check any day.
How many questions are you, like, what, how deep do you want me to pull it?
Because I usually I do follow the general guideline of each thing that I try I find that I might have a question about that might seem more
Critique and then their criticism in particularly critiquing are not there's neither a bad one
seen more worse than the others so if something is what could be perceived negative i try to
balance it for most people with the what i where i saw it coming from what i like about that my
question with it then it's they do they want the where do i what do i think should be next or what
am i expecting next or so it's it's very much the other writer leads what i'm what i'm going to do
i think it's very important for writers to be able to divine to to define what they're looking for
so if i submit something to you for feedback i am most likely going to say
this is what i would like you to look for because there's too many forms of editing to
roll up under feedback you mentioned a few there's proofreading there's line editing there's
development editing there's content editing there's there's so many there is so and i might
not want you to look at all those things i might want you to make sure that i spelled villain right
so it's it's important to define what you're looking for when you request feedback and um
whether you do it through the website or whether you do it in person by handing them a piece of
paper it's also important that you can verbally or write them down say that to another person
because i don't want somebody's feelings to get hurt because they didn't tell how they prefer
their feedback to be delivered in the first place because first and foremost we're here
collectively as a group to support one another to grow as writers so being able to accept feedback
there is an expression in the call center that i cannot stand and it says all feedback
is a gift that is a lie that is a hundred percent a lie not all feedback is beneficial
Other people's opinions, most of the time, are none of your business.
So...
I'm not particularly sensitive about your opinion of me, since it's none of my business.
Yeah.
Or about my work.
Just try not to be cruel.
I can't handle the business.
So, yeah, the primary feedback rule for our writing group is to not be cruel.
That is across the board.
If you're cruel in your feedback and it happens more than once, I'm going to ask you to leave
because that's not beneficial.
That doesn't help.
And collectively, it sours a whole group.
And I say that because it's happened.
I've seen it happen.
I've been a part of groups where it happened.
And I want you to get something out of this.
I want this to be beneficial to you.
otherwise i i don't want to waste anyone's time ever time is so valuable you get less than 100
years on this rock for for the most part and collectively we're we're not as young as we once
so let's make the best of it um
so what i would like to do next is to just kind of talk about
how you would like to see what you would like to see happen at the face-to-face meetings that we
have once a month i did an agenda i followed it about 25 of the way so i was being facetious
but i but i am i am that type of person i like to be over prepared i like to do the extra things
nobody asked me to build a website I just wanted one but I also believe writers should have a place
to showcase their work and if say six months down the line in the group and everybody is now
publishing their own stuff on on our site we could open it up to the public and other people can see
what we write and other and we could share our our poems and our reflections and our stories and
keep them moving forward because


===== 01:10 to 01:20 =====

they deserve to be out there. I don't know a thousand percent about grant
writing and things that are going to be hugely beneficial to you, but I promise
you I am an excellent editor and I can look for loopholes. I'm not very good at
writing poems but I'm gonna lean on him to help with that because he is.
I was just going to say that that's not we're past that point if it's one of my favorites to like go
through and see not even because I would necessarily like what he wrote but I like how it broke it just
yeah that's with and i'll i'll go ahead continue before i and the way i look at this we're all
past 10th grade whether we were there or not and we know what a sentence structure should look like
if unless you specifically ask me to do a copy edit of your work i'm not looking for that
so the punctuation missed the capitalization missed if you didn't say kristy i'm about to
have this published in Raleigh News and Observer,
and I really need a grammatic check for it,
then I'm probably going to just take it at face value
that you wrote it the way you wanted it.
And there are so many examples of famous people who
never used punctuation, who chose not
to write in any established format,
and still managed to get their point across.
So if they could do it, why can't we?
And that's kind of really where I am on that.
If you want feedback that is that detailed, ask for that because I'm not going to inherently look for it.
But okay, the next thing we have, so we've done feedback.
We have names.
We know who everybody is.
How would you like to communicate as a group?
There are many, many options.
I don't love a text group circle because iPhones and Androids don't play well.
I can tell you already that we have a variety at this table I could also put a
forum on there and we can communicate that way too we could do a Facebook
group if you'd like we could do there's I was just thinking of a way that we can
communicate amongst ourselves in a like a group because so we're not meeting
again until another month so what if you're working on something and you
would like feedback with and I looked at the wrong person clearly that is what it
was designed to do um okay say you're working on a grant and you have to you
need it by Monday you can text me or you can text somebody else in the group but
basically what i'm saying is would we like an email group would we like a um a facebook group
some way that you guys can communicate if you want feedback that maybe you don't want from me
or you want to collaborate on something together we're only meeting once a month so that leaves out
a lot of the the purpose of the group is to bring us together to write more to work on our skill set
but what happens when we're away what happens if it's two weeks from now we
don't have a meeting for two weeks how would you like to share your work I'm
perfectly good with putting everything through the website my only fear with
that is that not everybody who wants to be a part of this has access to the
internet so I want us to have a even if it's just a fallback Google writing or
Google group that that's fine to me as well I just want us to cut and isn't
that doesn't that be something we decide tonight but I just want that to
kind of be something on our radar of how would you guys like to collectively communicate outside
of this meeting I think so and that's no problem to create I will absolutely add it to the website
if that's what you guys all agree on and then it's just a matter of me adding your email to it
and it'll almost come through like a newsletter does it'll just I'll help you
I can't do it.
So, I think I have gone through everything.
Okay, so I'm going to do the last one a little differently for the autistic people in the
room.
of closing with the momentum and asking each person to name one step i would like you to say
one thing you liked about today one thing you thought could have went differently about today
i'm a huge fan of that i still make my children do it
about the whole day yeah it doesn't have to be about the writing group just about today
day. Okay, that changed things. I was like, this is great. You came exceptionally prepared
on 120%. So, I'm like. Aw. No, just about the day in general. One thing you liked and
one thing that could have went differently. And then we'll be all done. Okay. Okay. Anything
it all yes you had to go back oh you left early and had to go back okay okay
Yeah. Who would like to go next?
I had Buria pizza and tacos from 9-3 Mini Mart, so that always makes the day great.
What I did not like about today was the fact that I got Bamboo to buy my insurance,
and they took 72% of my checkout for our insurance.
What I didn't like about today is the fact that it's the fourth day and there's been no air at the shelter.
Oh, no.
Oh, during this heat wave.
But what I did like was that at the end of the day, I received a text that both parts are now in and they will be there at 8.30 in the morning.
Oh, fabulous.
but we've been having fans blowing
I even brought my fans from home
to try to help out
and I'm going to have to slip out
because I promised to bring George separate
and if I don't get there before they close
I'm going to be in trouble
you better go
but thank you so much for coming
thank you, I enjoyed it
nice to meet everyone
thank you
you did an awesome job
I will
thank y'all and i do apologize oh you're fine who would like to go next
i had a fabulous cooking class today with a homeschool child it couldn't have gone better
it just went remarkably well
and
I wish that I could
just make one phone call to talk to the people
that I want to talk to
instead of having to go through 18 people
to get literally one
answer. I hate that too.
Either of you would like to go?
Yep, just today.
One thing you liked about today
and one thing that could go differently.
I love it that despite the way I felt
when I woke up too early,
how well did it go?
Something that could have done differently?
What happened?
Everything could have gotten different.
Felt.
When I woke up, it's time to call in.
I'm satisfied.
That's wonderful.
did you go any kathy uh today i had the momentum and mental stability to be creative
which is really nice um i am working on getting shoulds out of vocabulary as much as possible
i would like to make sure that tomorrow i would get more


===== 01:20 to 01:23 =====

somewhat than I got to death. I must tell myself that all the time. I don't go outside enough. I know
this to be true. I just go out and sit in it. That's it. Seven minutes. Seven minutes because it's two
minutes more than I did this morning. Hey, I support that. Forward momentum. I'm a fan of
forward momentum. Julie tells me all the time. Baby steps are moving forward. Yep. I was not a
vampire was a werewolf when I was young and we were told to choose I chose so one of the things
that went well for me today was the printer worked as I savagely murdered trees and one of the things
that could have went differently is I definitely probably could have promoted a writing group a
little bit before um before we all got here like I didn't post it today I didn't put it out today
I'm like so what I would like to do differently is to promote our group a little more and
see if we can't put some more bodies in chairs and get the words out there
would you like a writing assignment for next meeting or would you just prefer to
bring something of your own for next meeting. Okay. What preferences do you
guys know okay so then what we'll do is anybody who wants an assignment can use
one of the prompts on the website but the purpose for next week will be
putting that feedback into play so it doesn't matter what you write it doesn't
to be great it doesn't have to be anything important but next meeting we're going to give
and receive feedback in a healthy productive way that is more of the focal point than the writing
and i know i feel like i've harped on that so much tonight but that really is a group killer
so what i'm asking everybody to do then come back please come back coming back is important
and come back with one piece you're prepared to share for feedback
and that's all thank everybody for coming you can stay and hang out we have the room until eight
o'clock um all of the stuff is for you take it with you and i'll see you next month
yes
And then we have to go far more small.
Oh, okay.
Thank you.
Thank you.