FAQs

The club meets monthly at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Falls Church, Virginia. With the exception of our summer and holiday socials, our meetings are hybrid, so you can also join virtually on Zoom. Guest speakers are recorded and posted to YouTube for members.

Each meeting normally has a guest speaker that gives a 30-45 minute presentation on some aspect of writing or publishing. Speakers have included novelists, screen writers, memoirists, editors, literary agents, magazine editors, and poets. The presentation includes time for a lengthy question and answer session and a book signing in the case of authors and poets. The few times we don’t have speakers are normally set aside for “open mike” readings of members’ works.

Meetings also include treasurer’s reports, club announcements, and the other necessary evils of running a club, but we tend to keep these items to under 30 minutes. We also reserve time to open the floor and invite club members to tell us about their latest successes, setbacks, or personal landmarks in writing.

Unfortunately, two-hour monthly meetings don’t really allow time for helpful critique. In addition, the club’s membership varies widely in both experience and interest, which is not terribly helpful in a critique setting. We do have critique groups that meet regularly on schedules that work for the members of each group.

Having said that, the club is the place to network with other writers in the area who may share your interests and experience level; our hope is that, by joining the club, you’ll find others that can help you form your own critique group.

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Probably not in the way you mean. We’re a collection of writers ourselves, not agents or publishers, so the help we can provide is limited to advice, experience, and networking…but those are useful tools, too. By joining the group, you’ll be able to compare notes with others trying to accomplish the same thing you are and it may save you time and frustration in the long run.