This year I vowed to talk about new experiences.  I was thinking of travel, but things have changed for everyone.  Now that we are home most of the time, our new experiences could be just a new way of doing an old thing. My writing club, like many others, is learning to do something in a new way.

I’m a long-time member of the Enid Writers Club and the Oklahoma Writers Federation, Inc. OWFI cancelled the annual conference in May this year due to the pandemic.  It was a good idea since all those people would be in a hotel together for the weekend, elbow to elbow with other writers.

The Enid Writers Club meets from September to May each year taking the summer off.  We meet at NWOSU in Enid.  Until this year.  Our meeting place was cancelled, and we tried to get a different one. The Enid Public Library decided they too would hold no meetings.  I really can’t blame them.  There would be more than 10 people in the room and even with social distancing, masks, and a temperature check at the door, there could be the possibly of passing a virus around.

So, this year, we are going to try to have our meetings by way of our monthly newsletter and website.  The officers decided on programs and there will be computer links to YouTube and online readable material.  Then we will write our 150-word roll call piece based on what we learned and email them to the other members.  We’re going to try Zoom or Google Meets for our critique sessions. That is not an easy thing for some of the members.  We all love to get together and help each other learn or show off our skills.  I’ve met some great people in my club, and I don’t want to lose track of them or their writing.

Once again we move forward with a new way to do an old thing.  New experiences!  Not what I had in mind at the beginning of the year, but I’m flexible.  We all have to be these days.

What new experiences have you had this week?