Hello and Welcome

This group is in the Evolving stage...

Basically, this will be a spiderweb on which author and writer spiders will be able to crawl and spin their stories and share info, tips, experiences, et cetera.

This group will have its home base here in my hometown of Westfield, MA where there will be a monthly meeting/get together for those who can attend. Not everyone who joins will be able to attend these meetings, so info will be shared here as to what took place, what was discussed, and so on and so forth.

I am a relaxed and easy going person who happens to be a rather prolific writer/author. I've been writing since I could sit upright at my desk and apply pencil to paper. I was in grade school. I cannot be anymore precise in pinpointing my emergence as an author, however, I can tell you that the song The Lion Sleeps Tonight was on the radio a lot at the time and it inspired my first story about a lion in a zoo who daydreams about his adventures in the jungle- if he could only escape from his cage. I probably called the story The Lion Dreams at Night, or something ridiculous like that, but hey, I was somewhere between 1st and 2nd grade at the time and didn't have the vocabulary I now have, nor the geographical knowledge that would have allowed me to scoff at a lion being in a jungle in the first place- a savannah or the Serengeti didn't come into my awareness until 6th grade social studies.

Anyway- if a meeting consists of a bunch of literary-minded individuals sitting around a table in the local indie bookshop, or at a flash meeting location TBA, drinking out of adult sippy cups and laughing about failed projects, undeveloped projects kicked into dark corners of their brains, and their latest rejection letter (okay, maybe a lot of laughter and a few tears of disappointment and the soothing of crushed spirits and the propping up of broken aspirations will happen, too)...when you get a group of writers and authors together, anything can and should happen. And hopefully, at the end we'll all walk out the door with a little bit of new knowledge, a little bit of ego polished shiny bright for the next foray into submissions and rejections, info about upcoming local author events, the acquisition of a volunteer beta reader, the quiet joy of having found a mentor, and a sense of being a part of a network of writers and authors at all levels. (There's a lot more I could add here but you can fill in the blanks for now.)

We are spiders on a web called WhipCity Wordsmiths- spinning tales is always allowed.

If you want to join and pass the rigorous scrutiny of the Membership Approval Team (which will be comprised of existing members, so right now the team consists of Kelly and me since we're the only members, but it will grow as membership grows) then you will be allowed to post on the blog. I, unfortunately, must retain the right to remove you from being able to post on the blog if I receive complaints or feel your post is out of line for this group which will have members of all ages, not necessarily 18 and over adults. I strongly believe in mentoring young writers and giving them guidance, support and the feedback they need to grow as writers.)

So...this all said...I'm still working on the master plan for the group, but you're more than welcome to contribute your two cents, or contact me about membership, by dropping me a few lines at sebuffum415@gmail.com 

This isn't about me...it's about all of we.