Ten years of writing together

It started on a whim when I called up a few friends and acquaintances to see if they’d be interested in meeting together to work on writing. Since then, the Bathurst Muses have met regularly since January, 2007. Three of the original five members (me, Anita and Shila) continue to be stalwart members while a fourth, Lynn Horton, is on leave this year. Like any group, we’ve gone through repeated phases of “forming, storming, norming” and ultimately, performing. We’ve talked a lot about how to work together productively, debated expectations and responsibilities, and more recently, discussed ways to manage membership. These discussions have been recorded, we hope, for the benefit of other writing groups.

What has changed? In short, we’ve all become better much writers. Not only do we share and critique work, but we’ve learned and shared a lot about the craft of writing. We’ve all taken courses, attended workshops, listened to podcasts and read a lot about the craft of writing. We’ve hunkered down at writing retreats in Creemore, Grand Bend and New York. We’ve been privileged to welcome editors, agents, playwrights, and several authors to talk with us about their work in order to enhance our own.

And we’ve had many successes. We’ve printed five anthologies and hosted five readings to increasingly large audiences. Since 2007, stories critiqued by the group have won awards, been short-listed, long-listed and published. Members and past members have published one memoir, ten short pieces and two podcasts!  Here’s to ten more years!

Anita, Alison, Val, Michelle, Lynn, Alison, Maureen, Shila

At the Alice Munro Festival

Author visit from Béa Gonzalez

Samantha Haywood of Transatlantic Agency

Learning about dialogue with Judith Thompson

Evening with Sam Hiyate

New York City!

Anita and Shila, Random House winners