Our writing group met informally in-person back in May. I intended to write about this because I have a couple of quick thoughts about this fantastic evening.
Food, beer, conversation, and loveliness ensued.
Funny, when we met regularly in-person (pre-Covid, of course), we knew each other better, chatted more, bonded more. Online, we may focus more on the submissions, but I think we lack the comraderie that makes a writing group bond and connect in meaningful and lasting ways.
Tom and I talked a bit about the benefits of meeting online versus meeting in person.
Tom likes the online meetings because we stay more focused and finish on time.
This is certainly true. He has a valid point about this.
I miss the face-to-face interaction. Pre-Covid, we would hold our meetings but chat after. Sometimes for a long time.
We certainly talked about our projects and writing, but we knew bits and pieces about each others' lives, too. In a strange way, we felt like a tighter community back then. The relationships within the group seem stronger and more enduring.
And while I mean no disrespect to the people that have joined the group since Covid, I do not feel the bond that I have with the others.
But meeting in a restaurant, to talk about writing, to see how tall and good looking they are (they are all good looking online, but even more attractive in person), and to share a bit of our lives seems to strengthen the community in ways that Zoom cannot do.
Couple more thoughts on this to come....
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