Digressions: My Life in 500 Words or Less

Since September 2002 I’ve met with fellow writers twice a month, give or take a gathering or two. As founder and facilitator of The Bard’s Corner Writers’ Group regular meetings have been part of my life.

Because of COVID-19 that has changed.

Until March of this year, our group met at the main branch of Hardin County Public Library here in Elizabethtown. For the first couple of years of its existence The Bard’s Corner Writers’ Group met at Barnes & Noble Booksellers on the first and third Mondays of each month.

At one point we even held informal meetings on the second and fourth Mondays with an optional fifth Monday gathering so that we were getting together four or five times a month, but that was temporary. In March 2019 we switched from Monday meetings to meeting the first and third Thursdays of each month.

For more than three months now The Bard’s Corner Writers’ Group has not met due to COVID-19. The library is not hosting community gatherings, and rightfully so.

But — as many groups and individuals are doing during this pandemic — The Bard’s Corner Writers’ Group will begin meeting online. At this point, plans are to have our first virtual meeting on what would have been our next scheduled meeting day, Thursday, July 16, at the normal 6-8 p.m. time range.

This is new territory for the group, but it is an option I felt I needed to offer our members. Writing can be a solitary endeavor, but it doesn’t have to be.

Over the past few months, I’ve used Zoom, a video meeting program, to stay in touch with family and friends. That is likely the format we’ll use for the group.

While the virtual meeting will be a chance to interact with members, I’m sure things will be different than in-person meetings. For instance, typically our in-person meetings include members reading their works for feedback. That might be trickier online. Additionally, since each member will be in their home environment or somewhere other than a mutual location, the potential for distraction is multiplied.

On the other hand, members will also have access to their own refreshments, and if someone wants an adult beverage they would not be restricted from it. Also, if need be, a virtual meeting could go longer than public library hours of operation.

But then, who knows?

Things don’t always go as planned, and there’s no guarantee the experience will be one our group will want to repeat. Maybe we’ll switch to another format for our virtual meetings. Maybe we’ll decide not to hold any more virtual meetings. Maybe it will go well, and we’ll continue holding virtual meetings indefinitely.

Regardless how it goes, our group will survive these unprecedented times. I’m sure of it.

Just like the rest of the world, members of The Bard’s Corner Writers’ Group will get through it together.