Non-Toxic Feedback: Building workshops and writing groups. Episode 288 with Joni Cole

How do I find a writing group and what if they&#8217;re mean? <br/><br/>That&#8217;s a question we get asked a lot, and we always encourage writers to reach out in our <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/hashtagamwriting">Facebook group</a> or boldly throw it out there anywhere else online that you hang out and see what happens. You don&#8217;t even have to trade pages to be a writing group. You look for the kind of support and camaraderie you need. <br/><br/>But if you&#8217;ve ever thought of hying yourself off to your local version of <a href="https://www.grubstreet.com/">Grub Street</a> or our local spot for in-person writer-ness, <a href="https://www.writer.org/">The Writer&#8217;s Center</a> to find your people&#8212;or possibly starting an in-person writer-connection-thing of your own, then you&#8217;ll want to listen to my conversation with Joni Cole, founder of said Writer&#8217;s Center and the author of <a href="https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781584655442">Toxic Feedback: Helping Writers Survive and Thrive</a>, <a href="https://bookshop.org/a/1183/9781611689112">Good Naked</a>, and the <a href="https://bookshop.org/a/1183/9781582701028">This Day</a> series, which collects diary entries from women all across the United States on a single day, and the host of the podcast <a href="https://www.buzzsprout.com/1738426/">Author, Can I Ask You</a>. Joni and I talk starting writing groups, running them, keeping it positive and making sure you don&#8217;t lose your own work in the process of helping others.<br/><br/>Links from the pod<br/><br/><a href="https://bookshop.org/a/1183/9780226616698">Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narrative Craft</a> by Janet Burroway <br/><br/><a href="https://bookshop.org/a/1183/9781481422253">The Place Between Breaths</a> by An Na<br/><br/>#AmReading<br/><br/>Joni: <a href="https://bookshop.org/a/1183/9780374280345">Embassy Wife</a> by Katie Crouch<br/><br/><a href="https://bookshop.org/a/1183/9780804172479">American Dialogue</a> by Joseph J. Ellis<br/><br/><a href="https://boo