Jeremy C Kester

Finding people can be tough. Well, not really. But what I am looking for is a little tricky. Having gone to the event in Plainfield for indie-writers this month, my desire to join a writing group has spiked. Finding those chasing the same dream is just an idea that even my social-anxiety-riddled-self cannot fight against. Now there’s a group in Plainfield and one I believe is also in Naperville. Problem is that each are 30 to 40 minutes away in zero traffic. That’s not an issue to go every-so-often. Just once in awhile. But what about something around the corner?

Enter my finding the DuPage Writers Group. Fantastic! They supposedly meet right at my local library, so that’s fricking ideal! Oh… wait a minute. Where did they go?

Last word that I see was an announcement for a meeting on June 5th, but beyond that, no word. No regular meet-ups. Even their social media pages appear defunkt. According to their bylaws they meet monthly. That appears to have gone the same way as their social media pages. Four months since there’s any word on a meeting. And there’s years since their social media pages have been active. The evidence shows me a group that either died or is on life support. What to do…

I want to just take that at face value and give up the hunt. There is an email, but why bother? My concern is that if the group is dying, then what good would my entering it do? But maybe that’s my anxiety talking.

I could just email them. At least I’d find out what is going on. In fact, I know that I should email them. Damn my anxieties. Isn’t it easier to just assume? Even going down the list of authors comes up with URLs that are no longer active. More evidence right?

But that all isn’t sitting with me. I know that I plan to attend the NaNoWriMo event at the local library where this group supposedly meets. Perhaps I’ll meet someone there who was a part of the group. Maybe they’ll know what was going on. Or I might find another group. But no matter, there will be people there. Other writers. And that’s really what I am after. And that’s what is tough about finding people.