Recreational Writers
Criteria
Fees
Meeting times

Frequently Asked Questions

Deb Engle made her living as a freelance writer from her attic-turned-home-office on a street named Cottage Grove in Des Moines, Iowa.  She was in the enviable position of having national publications within the Meredith Magazine Group as steady clients.

Engle was successful to the point of having to turn down assignments, but the isolated life of a home-office writer created a void.  She wished she had colleagues to bounce ideas off of, get another perspective, and tap into the creative energies of those who shared her craft.  She and a friend, another professional writer with a public relations firm,  decided to create their own human synergistic board of advisors and started a Writers’ Group.

The writers gathered around Engle's round, oak table regularly before happenstance caused the members to move away. Good stuff came from these meetings. Two writers signed with the same highly regarded New York Literary agency. One author worked through the chapters of a book for which she was paid a handsome advance; another found that the clients of her public relations firm benefited by what she learned from her writers’ group.

The meetings were magical.  Inspiring.  Energizing. Thought-provoking.  Sometimes controversial, but always forwarding.

Julie Gammack was a member of this group.  She had been a  feature columnist for  The Des Moines Register before forming her own company staging writers’ retreats in the San Juan Islands, Blue Ridge Mountains and Vail, Colorado.  Gammack moved to Annapolis in December of 2000 where she wrote an Internet-related column in the business section of the Annapolis Capital and is a contributing essayist for the Chesapeake Bay Magazine. She is a business coach for entrepreneurs in the Baltimore/Washington area and takes the skills she has developed throughout her various careers to form the Burley Point Writers’ Group.

There are two groups.  One is for the professional writer who has had his or her work appear in a recognized publication. The other is for the recreational writer who enjoys writing but may or may not seek to be published.

Groups meet once a month.  There will be writing exercises, opportunities to have work critiqued and speakers relevant to the group. Literary agents, authors, editors, publishers, opinion writers from around the country will appear in this small-group setting allowing intimate interaction.