To Join: Come to our monthly meetings to share a story or simply to listen. Open to budding storytellers, professional storytellers, natural-born storytellers, and shy storytellers (i.e., people who’d rather listen to storytellers than tell a story).

Meetings: When: 2nd Saturday of the month, 9-11 a.m. Where: Reynolds Corners Branch Library, 4833 Dorr Street Toledo, Ohio 43615 Contact: Facebook

Contact: Fill out their contact form online. Address: 3806 Driftwood, Toledo, OH 43614 Phone: (419) 509-6776 Founder: David Bush, Email Facebook

Contact: Fill out their contact form online. Email Facebook

Meetings: When: Second Saturday of the Month, 9:30 – 11:00 a.m. Where: Point Place Library, 2727 117th Street, Toledo, Ohio 43611

Contact: Chris or Sarah Facebook

Writing Alone, Writing Together: A Guide for Writers and Writing Groups by Judy Reeves

Print | eBook

The lonely life of a writer need not be. There are ways to break that isolation and find encouragement and support within groups of like-minded people. Sections in Writing Alone, Writing Together include Writing Practice Groups, Creating Writing Prompts, Group Leadership, and even What to Do with the Bores, Whiners, Control Junkies, and Thugs. Whether the group is oriented toward writing the great American novel or a family memory book, this useful book offers an array of effective techniques to help writers achieve their goals.

The Writing Group Book: Creating and Sustaining a Successful Writing Group edited by Lisa Rosenthal

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In this insightful guide, more than 30 members of writing groups explain how and why they found a group to join or established their own, how they have kept their group flourishing, and what it has enabled them to accomplish—from simple self-expression to a lifetime of published work. Poets, playwrights, screenwriters, fiction and nonfiction writers, memoirists, and children’s writers share advice on how to give constructive critiques, manage difficult members, delegate responsibilities for maintaining the group, and keep meetings productive. Online groups, international groups, and women-only groups are represented, and a resource section details ways to market and sell finished work and how to parlay one success into a writing career.

Write Every Day: A Year of Writing Prompts by J.M. Snyder

eBook

Ok, I know the last book suggested throwing away all of those writing prompts. However, some people may really benefit from following regular prompts, because it can help spark creative thought.

Writing prompts are a great way to jumpstart your muse and get the creative juices flowing. Sometimes you want to write and don’t really know what to write about, and prompts can help guide you into a new story. This collection of 366 writing prompts can be used daily throughout the year (leap years, too!) as a starting point to get you writing … and KEEP you writing. Each day of the year has its own, unique prompt. Set a timer for fifteen or twenty minutes, and write wherever the prompt takes you. Or, if you’re between stories and looking for something different to work on, flip to the prompt for today (or any random page) and start fresh. This book will kick-start your writing or take you in exciting new directions every day of the year!

A Writer’s Book of Days: A Spirited Companion and Lively Muse for the Writing Life by Judy Reeves

eBook

First published a decade ago, A Writer’s Book of Days has become the ideal writing coach for thousands of writers. Newly revised, with new prompts, up-to-date Web resources, and more useful information than ever, this invaluable guide offers something for everyone looking to put pen to paper – a treasure trove of practical suggestions, expert advice, and powerful inspiration.

Judy Reeves meets you wherever you may be on a given day with:

• Get-going prompts and exercises. • Insight into writing blocks. • Tips and techniques for finding time and creating space. • Ways to find images and inspiration. • Advice on working in writing groups. • Suggestions, quips, and trivia from accomplished practitioners.

Reeves’s holistic approach addresses every aspect of what makes creativity possible (and joyful) – the physical, emotional, and spiritual. And like a smart, empathetic inner mentor, she will help you make every day a writing day.

Get Lit Rising: Words ignite. Claim your poem. Claim your life. by Diane Luby Lane and the Get Lit Players

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Get to know the Get Lit Players–a group of teens who use poetry to take on the world–with this common-core aligned book that sheds light on teen issues through their own poetry and slam poetry performances. Get Lit Rising brings to life the true story of nineteen teen poets (the Get Lit Players) who are inspiring thousands of teens across the country through their award-winning performances of classic and spoken word poems. This book takes readers inside the private lives of these teen poets as they try to transform the lives of inner city teens in some of the toughest life circumstances. The Get Lit Players include teens who are homeless, autistic, have parents in jail, battle with weight and body issues, depression, and more. But they use the power of poetry to pursue lives of promise and to reach out to friends, families, and communities. This uplifting book also offers the classic poems that have most inspired the Get Lit Players, along with their own personal response poems, and each chapter offers questions, writing prompts, and how-tos for readers to set their own inner poet free. Ending with a section for parents and educators featuring the curriculum that’s already in schools throughout California, this slam-dunk shows how to get teens excited about poetry and how to create poetry groups and slams in their own communities.

20 Facebook Groups for Writers You Don’t Want to Miss – The Write Life

List of Writing Groups by State or Region – Writer’s Relief

The 4 Hidden Dangers of Writing Groups – Jane Friedman

Writing Groups 101 – Inked Voices