It’s hard to believe a year has passed already, but this past weekend (April 11-14, 2024) was the second annual meeting of the Bumbershoots Writers Society, a wonderful group I have a privilege to be a part of.
While we’re not snobby, we are exclusive: a group of friends and creatives who have banded together to offer mutual support to one another through the ups and downs of modern creative life.
Notice I put the word friends first, because that’s important.
This year, we met in Springfield, Missouri, and we had a wonderful time. The only dark cloud in an otherwise bright blue sky was that, thanks to the incompetence of an airline, two of our members had to cancel at the last minute (almost literally) because their flight was running late and they wouldn’t be able to make a connecting flight to get the rest of the way to Springfield. They’d have had to wait a full day, and it wasn’t worth it.
Thanks to modern technology, though, when it came time to have our brainstorming session, we did so virtually. Not as good as having two more friends to spend time with, but it worked out. And there’s always next year.
But here’s the thing: the brainstorming session, as important as it is, isn’t the whole of the meeting. It’s three days of being friends. Of going to bookstores and sharing drinks and food, of visiting local attractions and, this year, of having one of our members make a presentation to a group of authors.
It’s about making more friends.
Because while there is a business aspect to all of it—finding ways to further the careers of our members and hoping to pass what we learn along to others—networking in a genuine way is paramount to the group. We’re not interested in making connections for mercenary reasons. We want those connections to be real and lasting.
As one of our members said in his post about this weekend, we are a tribe, a group of like- minded people from differing walks of life with one thing in common: an urge to create and to help other creatives like ourselves navigate the increasing complicated task of getting our work out to those who would enjoy it and doing it in a way that’s real.
And we’re doing it in different locales, so if you’re a creative and have an interest in what we’re doing—because while we’re just getting started, we plan to expand our reach—and you see we’re coming close to you, stop by and say hi.
You might just make some new friends for yourself.
Happy reading,
Gil
(Originally sent to my newsletter subscribers 4.16.24 and posted on Substack 4.15.24)
