Therapy No Longer Needed
On Thursdays, I meet with my group.
I’ve attended this particular group meeting every week I’ve been in town for over a decade. While I think that is notable, the group has met for nearly twice that time.
Front: Carolyn Bickel and Bob Hansen. Back: Kristie Kandoll, Barbara Blakey, Joyce Scott, Debby Lee and Kyle Pratt.
It’s a writer’s critique group where we review the writing of other members, but we also educate and inform each other. The group is very informal, with no elected leader, no treasurer, and no name. While I enjoy the informality, as a busy man, I have to schedule my time. More than once I’ve noted, “Group Meeting,” on my calendar, but that always made me feel like I was going to therapy or an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. They same thing happens when I tell people about my group meeting.
I’ve suggest that we name the group more than once. Each time the conversation quickly turned back to writing and editing.
A few months ago I started writing, “Inklings,” on anything to do with the group, just to keep it organized. The original Inklings were an informal literary discussion group that met in a pub in Oxford, England during the 1930s and 1940s. Two of the original members were C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. Lewis once wrote that the original Inklings had, “no rules, officers, agendas, or formal elections.” That sounded like our local group.
So, by the power vested in me by no one, I have named this group, at least for my own purposes, “The Inklings of Southwest Washington,” or simply, “The Inklings.”
While assuming such a notable name may seem presumptuous, I hope our local group continues, as an informal group of friends. Also, by using the name, I no longer feel like I’m going to therapy.