I am writing in preparation for the writers and diarists group that I intend to form on the 22nd of January. We have a handful of people so far but I imagine we will probably get about a dozen or so which is great for a launch.

About launches, if we want to be really successful we should follow nature. In nature everything starts small and having a big PR bash with people drinking champagne and getting the word around does not add to the substance of the idea though it does make an announcement to the public for all to see

I’m now going to think back to my experience in Frome when I joined a writers Collective which I have to say with all due respect has not been a satisfactory experience. I’m fairly good at socialising and taking the initiative but when I speak to some of the people at the meetings it’s very much like talking to a brick wall.

Although they are very polite you feel it when there is a barrier that might as well say, ‘who are you?’  It may be my face does not fit because I don’t come from Frome itself, maybe it’s my age though I doubt it. Maybe it’s because the organisation is a bit cliquey and stuck in its ways.  In our Frome meetings we meet in an upstairs room, about 30 of us, and we normally have a speaker or theme of some sort.

Typically after the speaker has finished there is a pause while they sign copies of their book and then there is a Q and A session which I have to say verges too much on the polite and do not dig in to the real ‘how did you… ‘  or how many manuscripts did you throw away and how long was it between the idea and the execution of that idea and did you have doubts about your ability to write.

I feel that any group can easily lose its way though I agree with its averred aims and objectives. There are so many aspects to writing.

These are the factors that I consider make for a successful synergistic evening.

#  There has to be the right chemistry for me to open up and if I was fighting to write a book or paper the sort of encouragement that I require needs to be available but is often not there partly because everyone is concerned with paddling their own canoe.

#  There needs to be an atmosphere not only of interest but mutual trust. If you’re going to share intimate or private ideas with people and particularly discuss a writing block you need to be able to trust them first and unless you know them and they know you and there is a will to work together not much is going to happen on this front

#  Too much noise!  Crowds and noise.  I mean a lot of people having conversations at the same time. It’s not compatible with my figuring out how to move forward the ideas that are in my head.

What do we all need at our stage of writing? Its probably unique to us

We can almost need a coach but I have a feeling we can coach each other very effectively were we to be given the chance.

#  Distractions   I’m not particularly impressed with visiting writers and authors because their first aim is to sell their book, nothing wrong with that, they are mainly concerned with window dressing and I think play down the difficulties and hardships of writing. ‘Their provenance is a million miles away from mine so I’m not really getting much out of the talk’

#  The key thing with writers is that you need two polar opposites contemporaneously. You need to be on your own, in your own space, to allow the ideas to develop. This could happen in your own home or you could have while you go for a walk but the key thing is to be free of distraction. At the same time, you need the support, fellowship, and catalytic stimulation of other people who are on your wavelength.

#  If that does not pertain, it is easy to become too lonely or alone for your own good and not be as productive as you would wish. When you have attended meetings you have been stimulated by it and thoughts may occur to you on the way home, and there is no way of sharing these thoughts with others because they are dispersed to the four winds.

#  Thus,  an excellent idea that you may have is lost amidst the noise of this everyday life and so a certain sense of frustration must ensue.It is almost impossible to recreate the idea unless you have written it down.

#  The point is that the brain and mind require certain conditions for growth in learning to take place and if those conditions are not there, growth will not take place. I have to spell this out because I feel that writers somehow blame themselves and decide that they couldn’t possibly achieve the standards of others and do they have much to say anyway?

#  The point is that we are all unique, no one has had such a combination of environment, birth situation, siblings, overall DNA of your various incarnations, talents, pressures on you, inspiration from Friends

NO ONE ON THE PLANET has had the same experience on you not even close.

So doesn’t that make you think you might have something to offer?

How to achieve success as a writer

Forget committees, AGM’s, minutes of meetings, all the stuff associated with normal associations.

There is only one thing that matters and that is a phenomenon of the natural world called quantum entanglement. This is an energy outside space and time which is ideally generated through a thought, a need, a question.

If you say from your heart, I  really want help with this project, or I seem to have writers block or some such question and you put it out there as an open invitation to respond, and someone does, then that energy from the heart and soul causes quantum entanglement which builds up a community over time.

All you need is people, something in common, a will to communicate. The rest will look after itself