Balancing act

I met my new group of creative writers today; I’m lucky to have another lovely band of people interested in writing, the processes of writing, and different ways of doing it for different purposes and audiences.

We were all new to each other so it was very much an opportunity to try and get to know our fellow group members, for us to talk a little about what our writing at present consists of, what our background to our writing (and ourselves) is, and what we might want from getting together. As group leader I have the responsibility of running the group, and formulating a programme, but really I want it to reflect what the others want too. It is interesting that this group might be want to write something longer, and maybe write something based on their own life experiences.

As with any group, there are always some people who are quieter than others, and some people who are more confident about speaking out. As a group leader in a situation like this it is important to be able to manage the different members and try to ensure that no-one gets left out, nor dominates (even inadvertently ) the little group. At the moment there are only four of us plus me, so it is a real balancing act. I don’t want to curb anyone’s enthusiasm, but on the other hand, I want to let everyone have their fair share of the time together to express their point of view. I think next time we meet I might have to make a few ground rules… we have such a short time together once a month so it is important that everyone ha their moment in the limelight!