There were 3 people there and then I made the 4th. The first thing the woman running it said was that we should all come up with one word that describes writers. Uh, excuse me, I’ve been writing for a long time and that little exercise made me think of being in grade school. Even so, I played the game. The lady started. “Focused,” she said. The guy next to her said, “Intense.” Then it was my turn and I said, “Nuts.” The other three stopped and looked at me. They gave me weak smiles. I thought after number 4 responded that it was over. However, NO, we had to go again.

She became impatient when I tried to wrest control of the meeting to find out exactly who these people were and what they wanted to establish. Well, the guy to my right said he needed “motivation” in order to write. The guy to my left had been published, had been a syndicated writer, was working on more and was 85. The lady appeared to be in her late 70s.

They wanted to know what I wrote. I said I wrote poetry, fiction novels and short stories, and that I was working on a true crime narrative nonfiction. Mr. “I need motivation (who has never written a thing) wanted to know how I could possibly do that. After all, he said that people identify you with what you write, so if you are writing poetry they want you to be a poet. I told him I write because I have to write and I write what comes to mind. Mr. I Need Motivation appeared shocked.

The “leader” said she was interested in being with serious writers. I looked at  “I Need Motivation” and thought this is a really screwed up group.

Then the guy to my left mentioned digital publishing and the lady said she never heard of digital publishing and it was obvious she wasn’t interested

Oh well, thankfully my wife arrived on the scene and rescued me.