Online writing groups offer several advantages. You don’t have scheduling conflicts or deadlines, you can read and write at your own convenience, you can participate in your jammies, and you can even join under a user name (Yahoo ID) other than the one you sign checks with, so nobody needs to know who you “really” are. You may connect with writers in far flung parts places.
Several years ago I participated in a lifestory writing Yahoo Group that was wonderfully active and helpful. Every time I posted a message that was more than a few sentences of appreciation or encouragement about another member, I copied my story into a growing WordPerfect document to create my own archive. It is fortunate that I did save copies, because that group suddenly went POOF! for reasons that never were disclosed.
What a sad thing to have that group disappear, but because it did exist, I have around 150 pages of stories that I wrote over a period of four years, mostly in response to things people mentioned in their own stories. Few of these stories are longer than four paragraphs. Most are tiny memories documenting the Good Old Days, adequately covered in two or three paragraphs. Topics are as diverse as family holiday traditions, camping trips, my experience with The Great Northeast Blackout of 1965, or my sons’ Dr. Demento inspired hijinks. Few of these stories would have been written without the inspiration of the Yahoo Group.
Update: 4/11/2022
As social media like Facebook and others gathered steam, Yahoo Groups ran out of it. That does not mean the end of online writing groups. A quick web search turns up a long list of online writing group resources. I urge you to take a look and find one that fits your needs. As you search, keep in mind that memoir writers should look for a group dedicated to our genre. Fiction writers don't always understand our unique focus on what really happened.
Write on,
Sharon Lippincott, aka Ritergal
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