Am happily busy reading for a review due soon but had to post amid all the holiday hoopla that I have been accepted into membership with DWW, the organization of Detroit writers that’s been around since 1900! Things unfolded like a perfect dream…
First the phone call giving me the good news. Then the invitation if I was available to come to a meeting they happened to be holding five minutes from my house (this convenient location happens maybe once a year, as they meet in many far-flung cities). Usually, I teach Thursdays, but had this one off. And nothing planned except laundry. So I said sure, I’ll be there.
Once I got to the house, they gave me lunch and a gift: their anthology, with 100 years of writings. Fascinating to see some of the works of the original charter members, of which there were 11. There are now 55 of us, including Joyce Carol Oates! She wasn’t at the meeting, but a group of dynamic, inspring women writers were, and we talked shop for hours that seemed like minutes.
This group has a lot of stuff going on. They hold conferences and retreats and get involved in all kinds of side projects like how to build a website and on and on. My head was spinning when I left, but in a good way. Thanks to DWW, I also now have an official “next step” for my book. I have not been a good marketer. I meant the book to be for my students, but by the time it came out and I used it for a few classes, I decided to take a break from teaching. Which left me with a lot of books in the closet.
Enter DWW. They’ve invited me to join with other authors at a “book tent” event at a spring festival that combines gardening and the arts! It’s like this all happened at the exact right time. I’ve been wondering what the hell the next step was going to be. So here it is. Right on time.
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