Five Years of Winter Street

by Beth Alexander Walsh

Five years ago, I noticed a calendar event advertising a one-day writing class at my local library. I bookmarked the page and vacillated over signing up. Being an expert at talking myself out of things, I started a mental dialogue of why I shouldn’t bother answering the ad. It will probably be snowing, I’ve never taken a writing class, I’m too late to sign up, I have nothing to wear, I never finished college…you get the idea. I pulled myself together, sent in my information and put the date on my calendar. After all, how terrible could two hours on a Tuesday in a library be?

There were sixteen of us that day. The introductions revealed a few people who had already published in some form. Some were working on novels and there were few English teachers thrown in for good measure. Intimidating stuff as far as I was concerned, but I sat and participated in the exercises, absorbing the input of those around me and I felt a creative spark. I was sad when those two hours were up and those around me felt the same. We continued to meet on Tuesday mornings honing our writing skills, constructively critiquing and supporting and encouraging each other in our need to put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard).  Five years later our group, albeit a smaller one, is still meeting several Tuesdays a month.

I would love to finish this story with a fairy tale ending of me publishing a novel or achieving notoriety of some sort, but the truth to me is almost as good. I am STILL writing, something I’m not sure would have happened had I not shown up at that first meeting. Because of my fellow writers, I have the confidence to let other people read what I write and submit my work to various publications.

What I have learned the most from this experience is that I am never too old to learn, to dream, or try something new. I just need to get out of my own way.

Happy Anniversary Winter Street Writers!