Recently while advising a member on starting a reading in her town, I said the most important thing about holding any event in an effort to further writing in the community is for the leadership to leave egos at the door. I and other members of netwest will tell anyone that the reason our groups in Murphy and Hayesville have been so successful is that we don't have room for those who are competitive with other members or our guests who come to observe and/or participate. Our members want to help each other, as well as help themselves to learn to be a better writer.
I took the position of Program Coordinator because I wanted to further the work done by Nancy Simpson in bringing such encouragement to those who want to write. I was welcomed into the poetry group in 1996 and for the first time in my life felt I had a safe place to read my work. That doesn't mean that my work was not critiqued. But we always look first for the good in each poem. We talk to the group, not to the poet who has just read. We discuss the poem, bring up things we'd like to know more about or things we feel would make the poem stronger or clearer. When we have had our say, the poet gets a chance to tell anything he wants to tell us about the poem. No one feels threatened or hurt but everyone gets the advantage of good peer advice.
The prose group is handled in the same way. When we have had a person come who does not understand our way, that person usually doesn't last long. We have no room for egos that try to overpower any one of our group. It is amazing that we meet month after month, men and womem, who love poetry and have come to love each other as dear friends. The secret is that we care about the spirits of our fellow poets. We want all our members to be successful.
Any group can have this if the members want it, and the leaders care enough to make sure it stays on tract. That is what has made our Netwest critique groups successful.