1st Mondays we meet at 7 at St. Luke's Episcopal in Fort Valley to get feedback on our writing. (It helps to bring some copies). The meeting coming up is August 6. Since our Writing Group Retreat is August 25 (10 am-4 pm at the 1890s Retreat House in FV), we'll spend time talking about that, too. If you want a sincere group of writers to give you feedback on your writing, please join us!
Over time, we've shared chapters from fantasy graphic novels; scenes from personal memoirs; blogs on family, gardening, birds, and other topics; chapters from mystery novels and main stream novels;  poetry, and more. I know I have gained both valuable suggestions and the impetus to continue writing from being part of this group. Reminder: We previously were Fort Valley Writers Meetup @ St. Luke's, but we are moving away from the use of Meetup as a communication tool. Instead, we will use this arh-editing.com blog site, @writerspursuit on Facebook, and, of course, word of mouth.

A couple of members of the Fort Valley Writers Group stopped in at the Indie Writers Book Festival July 21 at the Between Friends coffee shop on 96 in Warner Robins. The books represented there ranged from sci-fi to fantasy, to novels, including some set in Georgia, to Queer Speculative Fiction, to poetry, to essays and short stories, and beyond. I hope I am not leaving anyone out, but I recall meeting R.C. Qualls, Chrissie Tomlinson, Kelsey Jordan, Allen Gee, A.K. Meek, Winsphere Jones, Jennifer B. Duffey, G.J. Fortier, Elliot Cooper, Jaimie E. Miller and Paul Sinor. Most can be found on Facebook or their own websites. All of the books and marketing paraphernalia looked intriguing and professional.

I got R.C. Qualls's Cosmic Egg for Breakfast and Six More Short Stories for a friend who loves science fiction. I couldn't resist Winsphere Jones's Legends of the Black Crow because he is a black author and the book is set in Victorian America (New Amsterdam) with an alternate history. I got Allen Gee's book of essays, My Chinese-America.  I'm interested in that subject as it is, but talking with Dr. Gee and looking at the recommendations on his book jacket, i learned that his main professor in graduate school was an author I've always considered to be one of the best, James Alan McPherson. And Dr. Gee is writing McPherson's biography! I definitely will have to read that.

The Indie Writers Book Festival had a lot to offer, and I hope there will be another one next year. Who knows, maybe members of our writing group will be there with their own books!

Six of us met July 2 in St. Luke’s Parish Hall, FV. We shared a personal blog post, pages from a memoir, a poem, and a chapter from a fantasy/graphic novel. Our new communication outlets are @writerspursuit on FB and this blog, Fort Valley Writers Group blog at arh-editing.com. We plan to share writing to be discussed several days prior to the August 6 meeting using email. The next Write-in is 7 pm July 17 at Atlanta Bread Co., WR.