Go, Be, Write is an organization highlighting the art and business of writing.

This is a group for people who want to be inspired to write—and to go beyond that and actually write.

This group is not for the faint of heart, nor for the dabblers. If you're a novice, this group will give you the knowledge to become a professional writer. If you're a professional writer, the seminars about every aspect of being a professional writer will inspire you. We bring seasoned writers of all genres TO YOU - mostly, for free (unless it cost us for renting space).

We have a great core group of people who are all working on great projects. You will meet people who are passionate about their writing and doing something about it. Our groups are very structured and there is time for chatting before and after, but during the meeting we're focused on whatever talk, speaker, project we're working on. So if you have some kind of compulsion to hear yourself talk and be disruptive - this group is definitely not for you. If you wish to learn more about your craft, and the art of writing and submission enough to get published - this group is for you.

You will receive some emails regarding contests and writing events going on in your area. You will need to answer all the questions in your profile. If you do not wish to be an active member (attend an event every three months), this probably isn't a group for you. We don't really encourage long-distance memberships, it never works out. Once in a while, you'll get a tough love email from me asking you to get off your asses and come to a meeting. I don't want passive members. I would rather have three members who attend events than 200 that don't. Capiche? If you're not going to be an active participant, go find one of those groups that doesn't care if you ever write another word again...ever. If you're going to be a writer-write. If you want to be inspired - come to our meetings where you'll meet other writers and hopefully mesh with other writers and make your own support writing groups.

What will you get out of this group?

• You will have an opportunity to meet professional writers, hear how they got into the business and how they stay successful.

• You will have an opportunity to meet agents, editors and others in the industry.

• We have meetings where we concentrate on cover letters and brief elements of your entire packaging and platforms (such as agent and editor cover letters, social networking, proposal and project).

• We do not sit around reading our work. That's your own business, though sometimes we will read our opening paragraphs. We do give you a great opportunity to meet other writers face to face, see who's writing what and perhaps start a writing group. of your own.

• This group is also for professional business people who are looking at how to write a book about their core expertise.

• We talk about how to improve your platform as far as getting freelance clips under your belt to make your projects more attractive to a publisher.

If your genre is:

• Fiction
• Nonfiction
• Memoir
• Essay
• Children's/Young adult
• Book/ebook/self publish
• Freelance writing (articles, ghostwriting, websites)
• How-to
• Mystery
• Paranormal
Short story/articles (newspaper/magazine) screenplays/novels/books/promotion/blogs/web content
This group is for you!

It's all about inspiration, creation (!!WRITING!!), starting your own genre specific writing group, finding a market, researching the market (to meet needs of publishers and readers), writing proposals & query letters, getting the most out of conferences-and becoming a published writer, or, if you already are a published writer, how to promote your book with podcasts, websites, book trailers and other technologies.

Of course, it's also about finding your way through the ups and downs of the creative process, navigating through the recession and networking with other writers.

If you're one of those people who signs up for a group and never thinks about attending-please join any other group except this one. I put a lot of work into finding quality people to teach you the craft of authoring - and I like to fill the seats at our events. Like the sign says, this is a tough love group for writers. Expect to be harassed once in a while until you attend. My job, as I've self-assigned, is to get your butt at your desk and your hands on the keyboard. If you're calling yourself a writer and not writing every day - you ARE NOT a writer.

Did you know the average novel is about 60,000 words? If you write one page a day (average 240 words a page), it will take 240 days to write that number of words-a first draft. Then, you need to go back and edit-and have a writer's group to run it by. Don't forget about your book proposal and cover letter.... "What's that?" you ask. This group will teach you how to put together a book proposal-a market analysis, chapter-by-chapter outllne, overview, marketing plan and bio. We'll have guest speakers from the industry to talk about how to approach publishers and agents.

Like I said, you get out what you put in. If you want to be a writer, or you're a writer looking for inspiration-you've come to the right place.

RULES:
• Post a photo of you (alone) no two-people pictures, or some other kind of object that is representative of you. If you don't have a photo (of something), you won't be accepted. This cuts down on fake profiles used to hack accounts.

• No children in photos (there are creeps on meetup trolling around to meet people with cute kids-just like yours).

• Be prepared to attend meetings, or don't bother signing up. If you put down any other answer than "Yes" to this question it will cloud the issue of your membership.

• Once in a while you will receive a notice if you've been inactive. Active is not RSVPing yes, or no, to any events in three months. Meet up notifies us, and we send off one email a month notifying people they will be dropped if they get to that point and don't RSVP immediately for an event. Once you are dropped, there's no coming back. When I used to bring people back, it was the same thing - I never had any luck with people I brought back onboard. They still didn't participate. So my policy is once you're dropped, you're gone. Life is too short to re-approve applications.

• Answer all the questions in your membership application, and please weigh your words carefully.

• PLEASE do not ask to be an exception/rules are rules.

• Please be prompt to meetings.

• You must figure out the Meetup system on your own, I'm not your personal tech.

• Do not show up to meetings unless you are a member, although there are some meetings where guests are welcome. There are no guests unless otherwise specified. Really. No exceptions. Many of our events are full-up, so bringing a guest would take away a seat from a member.

• If there's an assignment for an event-please don't show up without it. If you don't care enough to do it, we really don't want you wasting a seat (how's that for tough love).

• Please don't contact me about not having time to do the group, but you'd like me to critique your work (F*$% that!). I don't do critique work. If you are looking for a copy editor, I can point you in the right direction.

• You must be a working writer (as in-you have to be willing and able to write), not just someone trolling for a ghost writer, or some way to promote your classes or products. Let me know what you can do, and we might be able to arrange a meetup event around you!

• You can't join under a company name-you must be a human. No self-promotion for services or products.

• Don't ask me to start car pools. Post only on the bulletin board, or send direct email to a member if you need a ride.

• Please NO Prima Donnas who've done a little and know a lot - you won't last long with this group.

• Please show everyone the group the same respect you wish to receive.

• Please do not use this group as your relationship litter box. Relationships are great, but don't come here if you're looking to see how many people you can be with until you're kicked out for being a predator. I take complaints about personal behavior seriously. Please know that I don't run security checks on everyone who joins - I don't know many of the members from Adam, so please use your common sense when choosing to be alone with people, or giving people your personal information. Meetup is designed so you can keep your personal information safe, it's your job to keep it that way.

If you don't get accepted within a few days, recheck this list (before sending an email to me). If you've followed all of the above (and please be objective when looking to see if you've stayed with the guidelines), drop me an email through the meetup system, as sometimes system glitches occur and I don't get mail.

I know by this time I must seem like a anal retentive bitch, but there are a stack of personal experiences with this group for each and every rule. I started this group to make other people's lives easier on their way to careers in becoming professional writers, not to become a babysitter and referee. We're all adults, if we take this fact - and the Golden Rule to heart - we'll all get along just fine. I look forward to having you in GoBeWrite (really, I do!)!

About Sally Richards:
I've been a little of everything over the last twenty-something years including and author, photojournalist, managing editor (magazines, newspapers, websites), a literary agent, copy editor, book packager and screenwriter. I like to teach, but don't like the day to day commitments/politics of working in a university situation (been there, done that). Meetup has made it easy for me to give back to the community I've been a part of forever. I was lucky to have mentors all my life who gave their knowledge unselfishly. I've written for Writer's Digest, talked at conferences, and written for major publishers and publications. I've had more than 4,000 articles in print in many languages. If you would like to find out more about me (Probably more than you'd ever want to know), go to http://sallyrichards.... My latest book is Ghosthunting Southern California (Clerisy, 2012) and my next book Ghosthunting Northern California is out in 2013, ad well as Historic Lily Dale (2013).

Thanks for considering joining GoBeWrite! We are a tribe of writers that love great conversation, stimulating ideas and fabulous input. Come join us. Expect a little, gain a lot.

Cheers,
Sally