Afraid of writing groups?

Wish me luck. I make first official visit to a local scifi/fantasy writing group I joined a month ago. So far, prior engagements have prevented me from attending in-person. Though, I have participated in some of the online group discussions.

Call me ridiculous, but I’m nervous. I’ve been in writing groups before, but I’ve always been introduced by someone that knew me. Furthermore, they were generally mixed-genre groups. In this case, everyone’s pitching scifi/fantasy. And even though the experience level varies, I’ve enjoyed what I read. The latter prompts the whole, “they’ll think my work is crap” concerns that pop into the skull. I’ve been told all manner of things about my work, from the “I can’t make sense of this” to the you’re “as good as anyone I’ve seen, published or not.”

And no, the latter is not from my mother or my wife.

This is where that self confidence that Mur Lafferty described in ISBW# 93 comes in handy.

I’m also concerned that I won’t be able to meet expectations. There’s a give and a take with writing groups, especially on time, but right now, I feel I need the feedback and learnings from others exploring the genre.

In any event, wish me luck. I’ll give you a brief report on how it went soon. Or I might not.