I have one. It's called The Cola Factory. It is our one year anniversary this month. At my old blog www.resurrection-cola.com had a page for it with all the details. Unfortunately I had to let the site go because I couldn't afford the maintenance this year. This was bad timing as a full page piece on the group came out in the BSFA magazine pretty much at the same time. I also had to allow my membership to lapse due to financial constraints. It's tough all around.
However, the group is still going, it's free, and we are always open to new members (contact details at end of post). I have to say big thanks to Martin McGrath and Focus magazine for putting in my ramblings about the group. I wasn't quite expecting to be quoted verbatim so I am sure I sounded like a bit of a dork, but free publicity is good publicity!
I decided to take this opportunity to use my new micro blog to highlight the group since there is no longer a dedicated web-page for it.
The group is small, it has a varied membership of published and unpublished authors. There are those of us who write short stories mainly and those of us working on novels. Entry into the group doesn't require much other than a commitment to writing. You must be writing regularly. This is for all intensive purposes a feedback group and we aim to give critiques at almost every session.
We are also attempting to engage in some other activities such as book reviews and blogging. This is slow going as I sort out a free blog for the group and get people motivated to participate. We are also starting to do writing exercises at the group sessions and we always endeavour to have some sort of discussion focused on a writing, genre, or publishing topic. There is plenty of room for socialising as each session normally takes place in one of our favoured pubs where we have a bit of food and drink to keep things light and friendly.
As a group we are trying to get stronger in our critiquing abilities and keep each-other's focus on our writing projects. To that end we do use the SFWA guidelines for critiquing. Everyone should be prepared to use these in order to give a balanced critique to the other writers. Everyone is also expected to use standard formatted manuscripts for submission.
Fundamentally we are looking for people who are writing any speculative fiction such as scifi, fantasy, horror or their sub-genres. You should be writing regularly, have a basic understanding of grammar and punctuation, and be open to feedback. Our critiques are never brutal or judgemental, however, we will tell you what we think of your work and give suggestions on how it could be improved. The critiques are meant to help you tighten your story, advance your skills and abilitiesas a writer, and encourage you to write the best fiction that you possibly can whatever you other goals might be.
In a previous post I extoled the virtues of getting feedback from other writers and participating in writing groups. I cannot tell you how valuable it is. Not all groups are the same and not every group is for ever writer, but I do recommend that even if you do not like my group you find one.
If you would like to come to one of our meetings please contact me and the group through the links below. We usually meet on a Tuesday evening in the later part of the month. I suggest that new members come to one or two sessions before submitting items for critique so that they can familiarise themselves with how the feedback session works within the group and judge whether they can handle having their work critiqued.
>>>Since posting I've managed to get the Cola Factory website up and running and we have a new facebook page. You can also contact me directly michaela [.] staton [@] gmail.com
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