First, see if there is a writing group near you. If there’s not, then you might want to start one.

You have to be open about the fact that you write, so you can find other people who also write. My writing friends have come from online forums, family members, and book clubs. And then some of my writing friends knew other writing friends. Going to writing conferences is another good way to find other people who write (obviously).

Once you have at least one or two writing friends who live near you, you can start a writing group.

You can also contact your local library to see if they would be willing to help sponsor a writing group, providing publicity and a place to meet.

Then you have to decide what you want to talk about during your writing group meetings. You might want to:

• Share what you’re working on.
• Talk about the fears, successes, and failures of writing.
• Encourage each other to keep writing.
• Critique each other’s work.
• Talk about how to write better, including sharing writing process, advice from others, have to write better prose, how to develop characters, and etc.
• Talk about publishing, what success can look like, and what goals you have.

And you have started a writing group.