About the Wri­ting Life and DFW Writer’s Workshop

By Sonja Cassella 

Many peo­ple have a dream of wri­ting something, perhaps something sim­ple, or something big, a New York Times best seller, an impor­tant his­to­ri­cal text, of being a news­pa­per colum­nist perhaps or perhaps beco­ming a poli­ti­cal pun­dit who gets on TV. These are all worthy goals. DFWWW is, ideally, a place to find that sup­port and encou­ra­ge­ment while you’re deve­lo­ping your wri­ting into what you dream it can be.

We pro­vide sup­port in two ways. First, we cri­ti­que every week. Every­body that comes with work will be lis­te­ned to and their work will be com­men­ted on. That’s a power­ful mes­sage that your wri­ting mat­ters to the other mem­bers of the workshop.

Second, during breaks and at the din­ner held after the weekly mee­ting at the local IHOP, we create a place for mem­bers to meet friends and find cri­ti­que part­ners, talk to published wri­ters, and feel that they’re wor­king toward a goal that’s doa­ble and rea­so­na­ble. Expe­rien­ced wri­ters pro­vide help with everything: plot­ting, quer­ying, the wri­ting busi­ness, agents, we’ve tal­ked about it all.

At DFWWW, we lis­ten, and we care about your work. Such sup­port has meant the dif­fe­rence bet­ween publi­ca­tion and obs­cu­rity for some. A fun­da­men­tal prin­ci­ple is that we sup­port all wri­ters, regard­less of what they’re wri­ting or for whom. We’re a First Amend­ment wri­ters group and no topic is off limits – and though we may clash and even deve­lop ani­mo­si­ties at times (what group dyna­mic could be healthy and nor­mal without com­pe­ti­ti­ve­ness and rivalry) ulti­ma­tely we know that every time a mem­ber publishes, our pres­tige as a workshop inc­rea­ses, and it helps every other wri­ter in the group.

Being a wri­ter is, for most, a life­time pro­cess, a strug­gle day after day and year after year, without really kno­wing what’s going to come of it, going on faith. When I go to DFWWW with my current work I always feel a sense of anti­ci­pa­tion. Will I get this past them? Will they be bored or angry? Will I learn anything about myself or others as I read? The ans­wer to that last ques­tion, by the way, is unques­tio­nably going to be yes.

If you’re serious about the strug­gle of wri­ting, about impro­ving your work, about lear­ning about the busi­ness, and yes, about con­tri­bu­ting your skills and know­ledge to a fellowship of equals – then DFWWW wants you. We’re cons­tantly on the loo­kout for new mem­bers who can strengthen our base of know­ledge and cri­ti­que. We res­pect the day to day act of wri­ting, and we want to share it with others. If that reso­na­tes with you, come and visit us any Wed­nes­day night at 7 p.m. in the Ruth Mili­kin Cen­ter, and we’ll be glad to meet you and bring you into our cri­ti­que circle. And from there, who knows where we may travel?