My inner curmudgeon doesn’t like joining groups. Maybe it’s because I’ve been involved in lots of groups that dream big but fail to deliver. Maybe I’m a misanthrope at heart. Maybe I have perfectionist tendencies. Maybe I’m just a control freak. Any or all of these things may contribute to my general disinclination to join groups that expect me to contribute a lot of free time to them, but lately I’ve decided it’s time to join up.
After all, membership has its privileges. (Wasn’t that an old AmEx commercial?)
One of the groups I’ve recently joined is a writing group the goes by the name We Put Words On Paper. I infiltrated a couple of their meetings, after my new friend and Black Heart volunteer Amanda Kimmerly mentioned them, and once the required 2-meeting vote was taken, I was unanimously accepted into their ranks. Hooray!
The group meets up on Monday nights for critique sessions and boozing (like all writers’ groups worth their ink), and publishes a blog on all manner of creative pursuits. While each member has his or her own writing interests and goals, the ultimate point is for everyone to help each other succeed at becoming better writers by working on something every day. While we may not be experts in all genres, we do have poets, short fiction writers, screenwriters, writers of rhetoric and technical documents, and even aspiring novelists. We dabble in many different areas, including music and painting, and as founding member Brandon Ney signs his emails, we’re Always Inspired.
In addition to the We Put Words On Paper group, I also finally forked over my $20 to officially join NAPA—also known as the National Amateur Press Association. I’ve been receiving their monthly bundles in the mail ever since Secretary-Treasurer Bill Boys agreed to sponsor me as a trial member, and it’s been exciting to see what kind of things show up each month in the little manila envelopes.
This month held an intriguing edition of The Boxwooder entitled “Guns, Guns, Guns,” by editor and publisher Jake Warner. Although at first glance I wasn’t sure I wanted to read about guns, particularly given recent events in Arizona, I opened it up this morning over coffee and was surprised by what I read.
Not at all a glamorization of guns, nor a moralizing tale, Warner describes his experiences with guns growing up in rural Kentucky, where all households maintained at least one (and often several) shotguns for hunting purposes. He goes on to describe various boyhood antics with weaponry, as well as military encounters with ancient rifles, and comes to a close noting that he no longer cares to hunt with guns, though he has no beef with those who do. An interesting insight into some of the reasons that some might use guns as legitimate tools (or even playthings, under appropriate circumstances), though he quotes Kurt Vonnegut, who once said “The purpose of a handgun is to make holes in people.”
Reading these contributions from the bundle have certainly provided me with a different perspective, and my decision to join the group (despite earlier hesitation) mainly stems from an appreciation for these differing viewpoints. Most NAPA members do appear to be predominantly from an older generation, and receiving these publications has been almost like reading messages from some very worldly, thoughtful grandparents who are eager to share everything from recipes to memories of the “olden days” to poems. (By the way: If you’re a member who’s not of “grandparent” age, please understand I mean no disrespect!)
So although I don’t publish anything in print these days, the National Amateurs have inspired me to do so. I’m not sure what I will ultimately include as my first submission to their bundle, but I’m looking forward to coming up with something that will amuse the membership. Maybe a few haiku?
In the meantime, I’m still plugging away on the novel, and have been trying to portion out more work on Black Heart to interested volunteers. Amanda has been reading poetry submissions and writing book reviews, and I recently received an email from a Canadian volunteer named Jennifer Thompson, who is going to begin reading some of our short fiction pieces. If anyone else is interested in sorting through the slush pile in search of literary gold—or would be interested in writing regularly for the website on literary topics—let me know and I’ll put you to work!
Stay weird, Austin.
