What it's all about

Posted by Lisa Marnell

As a writers' group we have broken bread together, or more specifically, we've shared many meals; bagels for breakfast and lunches at Grub Street's Muse, dinner at restaurants, dinner at Lynne's. We've dug into tarts, cakes, pies and cookies. We've drunk multiple cups of tea and we've sipped sparkling cider as we've toasted to each other's successes and accomplishiments.

We all managed to get a decent night's sleep when shared a (tiny) hotel room.

When we've car-pooled together, we've managed to find a parking spot for our car in almost-full parking garages in Boston, and we've been able to find said car in said parking spot hours after attending a literary event.

Each of us have shared dreams and disappointments. We've talked about aging parents, loss, and regret.

Over the past four years, we've seen each other's children grow older.

We've problem solved parenting issues; I've benefitted from Lynne's expertise and Amy and Hannah's insights. Yes, we've talked about men and our preferences regarding that subect: big or small, blond or brown-haired, hairy-backed or Olympic-swimmer smooth (we never claimed to be sophisticated).

But of all the experiences we've shared, what I think I love most is reading fresh work from Amy, Hannah, and Lynne, new pages that surprise and entice me. Pages that are e-mailed as attachments are presents wrapped in colorful paper, waiting under a Christmas tree. The creativity of these three women, the places they go, the people they discover (or create) never fail to draw me in.