The Value of Joining Virtual Groups

During this time of staying put I have been participating every week in a writing group. The Facebook group is called Writing Through the Apocalypse.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/2586770454936690/

The name sounds far more ominous than the writing sessions! My friend, Marcia Meier, publisher, author, coach and book editor hosts the sessions twice a week providing, two periods of twenty minutes to write. Within each period there are two writing prompts for us to choose from or you can focus on writing whatever you would like to write. I find this “group write” comforting.

Marcia is a gentle soul and starts us out with relaxation and a wonderful poem to set our mood for writing. The approach works for me, I find I never have trouble filling the twenty minutes and I am totally relaxed when the timer goes off.

It utterly amazes me how much you can write in twenty minutes. This is a great time to work on my blog or a story. Marsha respects our time and keeps the sessions to one hour, I enjoy and look forward to this time. It is like an escape from the reality of the quarantine, shut in or whatever you want to call it!

One of this morning’s prompts was “Write about how you express your unique vision of the world”. I had to think about this for a minute. Then I snapped and realized that this blog, my art, my dogs, my RV, my sharing of my faith and 1000 other things, I do or say, represent sharing my unique vision of the world.

Currently my focus is expressing myself is my art and writing. I would also say that the communities I participate in have become key places where I express myself and others share themselves with me. I am really enjoying the companionship and friendships I am building, both during and before the stay at home time. I am getting to know wonderful, brilliant people I would not ever had an opportunity to know with these virtual groups. The people have improved me as a person as well as my art, writing and overall thoughts.

If you have not already, you might think of joining a virtual group, it can be good for the soul and a lot of fun! My thanks to Marcia for sharing her knowledge, poetry and time to host the writing the group. If you are interested in writing or just want to write with others, check out the Facebook link above.

I am interested if you have found virtual teams to friend with and how your experience has been.