Writing Groups: making, breaking, finding and keeping

Speaker: Erin Thomas

What goes into a writing group? How can you find one? How do you build one from the ground up? If you’re lucky enough to be in a good one, how do you make sure it stays that way? When is it time to say goodbye? 

At this special MNM focused on writing groups, Erin Thomas will guide you through some possibilities and pitfalls based on her own experience and that of others. Then you’ll have the chance to chat with some local writing groups—find out how they work and decide if that approach would work for you. 

Hang around after the meeting to mix and mingle and find like-minded people to form your own critique group with. OR get in on the ground floor of our new experiment—a post-meeting, guided critique group for WCDR members. 

Erin Thomas has been critiquing and getting critiqued for more than 25 years. She’s been in writing groups that fell apart and writing groups that stayed together. She was part of one classroom-style critique group so long that she started getting asked to sub in for the teacher! She’s learned the hard way what works and what doesn’t… and why it’s healthy for a writing group to continue to evolve.  

Erin Thomas is the author of seven books for children and young adults, several of which were named by the Canadian Children’s Book Centre as “Best Books for Kids & Teens” selections. She specializes in books for reluctant readers and non-fiction articles for classroom use. 

Her work has been awarded grants, including the prestigious Ontario Arts Council Works-in-Progress grant and a Marian Hebb Research Grant from Access Copyright. Erin is represented by Rachel Letofsky of the Transatlantic Literary Agency. A lifelong bookworm and an avid learner, Erin enjoys teaching creative writing to students of all ages.  www.erinthomas.ca.

Schedule
9:00 – Doors open
9:30 – Opening remarks and land acknowledgement
9:35 – Split-second scribble and sharing
9:50 – News and kudos
10:00 – Solution stations (NEW!)
10:20 – Coffee/snack break
10:30 – Guest speaker
11:30 – Networking

Date: October 18, 2025
Time: 9:30 am-12:30 pm