Writing Reunion After Covid

 A History of the Geneva Writers Group and Me

It was the first in-person workshop of the Geneva Writer's Group (GWG) since before Covid.

The founder and long-time leader (retired) Susan Tiberghien  gave a workshop, the first in a few years.

It was 1993 when I first heard of the GWG and Susan. I had finished my first much-rejected first novel and was working on my second. 

I went to the Paris Writers workshop run by Canadian writer Isabel Huggins.

I told her I wasn't sure I should continue writing. I knew no other writers. When people learned I was writing, I would get questions like, "How much do you earn an hour?" "I suppose it is a harmless hobby?" said with a raised tone. These questions, and others of the same ilk, illustrated how out-of-sync I was with my co-workers and acquaintances.

Isabel told me about Susan.

Once a month, the GWG held workshops at the Cafe du Soleil, a ten-minute walk from my house. Mornings, we learned  our craft: showing not telling, developing character, maintaining tension and more. After lunch we critiqued our work. The criticisms were mostly fair yet serious enough that I knew when I needed to rewrite, when to leave things alone. 

I've heard some writing groups are vicious. This one wasn't. The goal was to help each of us be the best we could be.

We also learned about writers magazines from different Anglo countries, marketing opportunities and conferences. I learned of a low-residency writers masters at the University of Glamorgan in Wales. I applied and earned the degree that allowed me to teach a few courses in creative writing at the college level. I would never have learned of these things without the GWG.

Trying to write in a country where your mother tongue is secondary or almost non existent has its own problems.

An English writers conference was held in Zurich and many of us went. The next year it was Basel. Then Geneva took a turn. We brought in accomplished Anglo writers from several countries. well over 100 people came and the atmosphere was electric. The conference brought us together in a spirit of sharing.

I never missed the GWG monthly sessions. It was food to a hungry woman, drink to a thirsty one. For at least two weeks after a workshop, my writing came more easily despite a heavy work schedule. 

As the group grew we moved to a nearby church than the Geneva Press Club. The room where we met had two giant mirrors opposite each other with a huge chandelier hanging from the middle of the ceiling. The light was reflected and re-reflected in the mirrors to infinity, a welcome symbol of what I hoped my words would do. 

Finally we ended up at the Webster University before Covid struck.

Every two years, the GWG produced a literary magazine, Offshoots.

Another gift of the GWG was finding a writing mate, Sylvia Petter, an Australian living in France, married to an Austrian. She worked across the street from me in Geneva. For years and even sometimes to this day, we went over each other's work. Sometimes, we'd cross the street to share a coffee and a critique. 

We were harsh when we had to be, and praised when deserved sometimes with the threat, "don't you dare change that." Probing, manipulating words, paragraphs and ideas improved both our writings. We cheered each other on and rallied each other when discouraged. Once, we went for champagne, when we both received encouraging rejections.

GWG became more formal. I served on one of the first boards. We started master classes bringing in successful writers to supplement Susan's monthly workshops. The writers were playwrights, non-fiction writers, poets, short story writers and novelists. 

Agents were invited to look at our writing. More and more of us were published in magazines, anthologies, novels. Some had our plays produced, if not on Broadway, at local theaters.

I won a national award for an unpublished novel: Chickpea Lover: Not a Cookbook. The rejections kept coming, over 40, before a publisher said yes. The first person I called was Susan, the second Sylvia to share the news. 

As time went on the GWG became more sophisticated with its own website. www.genevawritersgroup.org and monthly newsletter. It has its own Facebook page with 1.2K members.

During Covid, the GWG used Zoom to continue workshops and meetings.

Thus today, when we gathered together for Susan's workshop and the Annual General Meeting, it was like breaking out of prison. We were able to hug. I saw new faces as well as people who'd been part of the group since 1993, people who knew my work and I knew theirs.

The past few weeks, it has been hard for me to write. I've had slumps before. Those problems were triggered by things like my mother dying or starting a job in a new country. Now, the problems of my birth country, the desire to make everything in my life as simple as possible were overwhelming me.

Listening to Susan's words today about stories, light, dark,structure, I felt a key turn. I opened the mental door and saw the writing projects that have been locked in. Any excuse has been banished. I know the changes that I need to make. I feel the difference just in writing this blog.

I doubt without the GWG, I would have written the 17 books I've written. Maybe I would have written some, but not as well. Part of it was learning the craft, but another part was injecting new ways of thinking into my being.

                                         Thank you Susan.