Nebraska Writers Workshop

At first the core NWW members feared the COVID isolation would dissolve the cohesive nature of the group. But the technically savvy members established a connection through on-line ZOOM sharing of works-in-progress. The continuing education presentations and discussions gave up the ghost as members determinedly continued their writing and sharing for feedback. The process worked. When the Ralston Baright Library reopened to the public, the group restarted relying on once again sharing works-in-progress for group feedback. The limited hour and a half format prevented the brief continuing ed, but thrived on feedback. Everyone sincerely committed to weekly gatherings though the library didn't. Twice a month one of the core members leads the face-to-face meetings and the off weeks available members present their work and opinions on-line. Members are enthusiastically stretching their wings with success. The membership number has tripled proving the principles of writers helping writers and coming together as equals focused on improving one's writing, NOT on criticizing personalities. That philosophy makes one and all recognize that each piece of writing is honored as hard work.

In stressful times, the devout writer writes. When all is right with the world the devout writer writes. When first feeling ill a devout writer writes, as well as when recovering and feeling weak because the make-believe aids the healing. Observing nasty weather or enduring natural disasters the mind of a devout writer catalogues vivid images to be used when the world returns to normal. For the devout writer the POINT of an education and of working a variety of jobs is to collect life experience that can contribute to great stories and complex characters. A devout writer COLLECTS life experiences. Even when life has dealt the devout writer a whole lot of crushing negativity, the courageous writer "What ifs" the true life anxiety into challenges that can be overcome in the world of fiction. Just because "that's how it really was" nags at the writer, the make-believe can take directions that are so much more satisfying for fictional characters. "Write what you know" merely means researching until the imagination feels comfortable, thus devout writers are students their entire life times. Creative writing is telling lies so credibly that new realities are believable. The reader escapes into a new life and enjoys the experience, all because the devout writer put "butt in chair and fingers on keyboard" until the story was done.

It seems that COVID and its variants will go on FORVER, thus public meeting facilities will not be made available until all those attending are vaccinated. (I don't understand the problem of belief in vaccinations when so MANY diseases have been controlled by the practice . . .) Anyway, the writers of the workshop have continued to write their work and have their say by meeting on-line via ZOOM for over 1.5 years. Hopefully , we can again gather face- to-face in November, please God. Some members of the workshop will be socializing at Johnny Sortino's Pizza on August 21, 6pm. We will be joyfully greeting faces we know and welcoming those new to the group of die-hard writers of poetry, screenplays and stage plays, and fiction of all kinds. We'll share stories of survival and of triumph. We will simply ENJOY being together and put our psychic energies together to make November re-grouping HAPPEN!

Due to Baright Library use of the meeting room post COVID for used book storage, NWW will be unable to conduct face-to-face weekly meetings until the first week in November. Many of the devoted writers are joining in the on-line ZOOM meetings. Due to their popularity, even after we can start gathering again, those on-line sessions will continue. Happy writing everyone!

Charging toward June 1st with members still meeting via ZOOM and gaining access through the closed FB group. More than 90 on that list. Praying hard that the falling COVID numbers (with the blessings of the vaccines) will once again open the Ralston library to face-to-face meetings. It has been a year and a half since we've looked one another in the eye . . . but the intrepid continue to write their poetry, screenplays, and fiction, as well as market same. The group facilitator's bout with COVID this past March and April took a toll on both energy and ambition . . . BUT as sweet spring-into-summer weather returns so will those drives. Each day of life will not come again. The edict is "Carpe Diem." You are challenged to accomplish and savor for your peers and for readers everywhere. Only YOU can tell your stories!

Since March 2020, the weekly meetings of the Nebraska Writers Workshop have been via ZOOM. That will continue until the Ralston Baright Library once again makes its meeting room available to us. Hopefully, that will be June. The group has actually gained members with the ZOOM capability and Jim McGowan's astute leadership. Interested Omaha area writers are encouraged to visit the group's webpage for workshop guidelines (www.nebraskawritersworkshop.info) then apply to the FB Closed Group for admission. We have poets still sharing their work, as well as members releasing new fiction. The group's dramatists are cheering that both stage and film productions are back at work. The Omaha Film Festival (Mar 2-14, https://off21.eventive.org/welcome) will have limited seating on 12-13 but will also have a innovative virtual presence. The struggle for survival of live theater artists and those working in film has been very real but success will not be denied. KEEP THE FAITH, BABY!

Omaha Film Festival 2021

Friday, December 4, 2020, has been a relatively "warm" and delightfully sunny day in the Omaha area. Soon (as in within the next couple of months) the COVID vaccines will begin distribution. As with anything in life, it will NOT be an immediate problem solver that will return life to normal with the snap of the fingers. The positives we can look forward to are the decline in hospitalizations and the slowing of death reports due to the virus. This creates a dim light at the end of the tunnel we have lived in for the past 10 months.

For us Creatives I predict a wave of joyous and positive stories and poems. How could we possibly NOT celebrate survival and the hope for a return to normal? Personally, I look forward to doing away with masks, being able to HUG those I have missed, and getting out of the house on a regular basis . . . especially to attend the resumed NWW's weekly face-to-face gatherings. The group's interaction has held on by the skin of the teeth via ZOOM and our FB closed list. The most exciting part is that members have continued to be productive. Observers (as in friends and family) are not the least surprised. We ae a tenacious and focused lot, obsessed by the written word. Writing is as necessary to our daily lives as breathing is to survival.