The Perfectly Balanced Writers Group

I GOT kicked out of the first writers group I ever joined.

I answered a Craigslist ad back in 2001 and exchanged a few reply-all e-mails with strangers. I felt hopeful as I trudged through New York City’s snowy St. Mark’s Place to a stuffy, overcrowded café on Avenue A and Tenth Street. I tried to appear knowledgeable when the others, all NYU grad students, talked enthusiastically about their work. I was an avid writer too but only in my journal.

They’d chosen me because I’d already finished grad school, but I disappointed them quickly. I had studied ancient languages; I’d never taken a writing class before. I didn’t know what workshopping was. But I was a quick study, I