Exercising the Writing Muscle

I love my friend Jackie!  I really, really do!  I know Jackie through my writing group at Kensington Neighbourhood House and all of the people there are great, but Jackie has been a great writing exercise buddy.

I met Jackie ages ago through the child care group at the local Neighbourhood House then met again at the Creative Writing group with Emilie at the Kensington Neighbourhood House a number of years ago.  Emilie has worked with us on a monthly basis giving us exercises to do.  Over the years we have gone from occasional writers to begin to see ourselves as writers.  As the years have gone by, the sessions are becoming a little more serious.

A few months ago Jackie and I decided that we needed a little more.  We needed to see each other more than once a month, so we started our own weekly sessions.   As time has gone by these sessions have taken on their own form.  We write, critically (and supportively) feedback and encourage each other in what we are doing in the coming week.  We encourage each other toward our writing goals.   We talk about daily writing goals, editing and the writing process.

The most amazing thing has been happening.  The writing muscle has begun to work and tone up!  We have more finely tuned goals.  We help pull each other out of the slumps.   It really helps to have a writing buddy, someone who also believes in your writing, someone who will read it and give you some good honest feedback.