First Day of School Jitters

With trembling hands and hope in my heart, I sealed the envelope with my membership application and a check for the dues, walked it out to the mailbox at the end of my driveway, placed it inside and waited for a response.

Then last night, I received the confirmation email. I am now a member of the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers. I realize that on the excitement scale, this doesn’t rank up there with landing a book deal, finding an agent or typing The End on a first draft, but for me, this is news! Step 2 in my multi-part plan to become a writer. Step 1 was deciding to become a writer.

And what nice people! I received emails from two people last night and another today, all very helpful.

There are quite a few published authors that belong to RMFW, a lot of critique groups in the Denver area and several internet critique groups. A number of the published authors have comments on their websites that indicate that had it not been for their participation in RMFW and critique groups, they wouldn’t have been published.

But that’s not all! There is a writers’ conference, called Colorado Gold in September and I’m already very excited about attending.

This feels great. I feel like I’m really taking the right steps.

And then self-doubt and anxiety begin to creep in…

Gosh, what if I join a critique group and I accidentally pick the wrong genre for my novel and they make me give all my characters magical powers and I have to add elves and trolls, or I try again and show up at the wrong place and they make my protagonist have a heaving bosom and rip her bodice off, or they laugh at me and tell me my mother dresses me funny or tell me my plot is predictable, my prose is trite and I don’t have the chops to write a business card?!!!

OK, I’m not that nervous, but it is a little scary. Up until now I’ve never shared anything I’ve written with a stranger. I think my expectations are pretty realistic and I’m excited to have the chance to really improve my writing. It helps to know that most published authors write multiple manuscripts and work years to get that first gem to a publisher.

Having said that, I would love to hear from those of you who participate or have participated in writers' groups and critique groups. I'd also love to hear thoughts on writers' conferences, since there are so many of them.