The whole shebang

The Dead Hemingways is a writing group that came about from a particularly bad experience I had once. I joined a writers group that had all the promise in the world, but had one fatal flaw: no one wrote.

They didn't write at the meeting. They didn't write things for the meeting. All we really did was play board games.

What the hell?

Later in life I had tried to join up with a few writers groups out of the Loft, but they were either filled up, or too specialized for me. I'm not a deaf, gay, Native American. No grants for me.

It was just as well because I don't think I would have much cared for the groups. I really don't like hearing peoples dull memoires or terrible free-verse. Frankly, I'm not particularly interested in hearing peoples' writing at all. I don't like hearing writing that is never going to escape a person's journal. And lastly, I know I'm not so consistant that I would have something to share for every meeting, even if I want to share it (who trusts poor writers anyhow?).

Why couldn't we just write at the writers group? Thats really all I wanted. I wanted to be in a room with other writers, writing. Theres some kind of messed up synergy that fills the room when that happens.

So, here are the rules of the Dead Hemingways:

1. You come to write. Don't read your work out loud. If someone is willing to read it and comment, great, but this is a group to write with. The Dead Hemmingways is supposed to be a haven for people who are too wrapped up in other shit to write at home.

2. Work on projects you intend to publish, or in some way plan to make money off of. No journaling. No exerecises. Work! Write things to sell. Write a book, a script, poetry, a grant proposal, whatever. But it has to be something you intend to actually do something with.

This is where it starts. If it goes anywhere else in the future, that's fine, but that comes later.

This group hasn't started yet. What I want to do first is find a place to write. I'm thinking Diamonds Coffee House on Central in NE Minneapolis because they've got a lot of available workspace.

Second, I need to re-up my membership at the Loft so I can make use of their generous ad placement policy.

Stay tuned.

The Dead Hemingways

This blog is the future home for the Dead Hemingways, a unique writers group in the Twin Cities. Stay tuned for updates.