Titles without Pay

Over the last six months - mostly since February - I have done my very best to make a name for myself in the local writing community. I feel that I have at least achieved a small portion of that goal with my latest acquisition: I was given the position of Regional Coordinator for the Wisconsin Regional Writers Association (WRWA) for South-east Wisconsin. What does that mean? Well, I have a lot of responsibility to promote the Association, acquire new members, and generally promote awareness for writers and offer support.

For three years, I have worked diligently to build The Milwaukee Writers Workshop to what it has become, and I am thrilled about it. I believe that having a writing community helps promote the literary arts, support writers who might not have support elsewhere, and give us all a place to have like minds to discuss our work. And it's all for free.

I've heard a lot of talk about the group, the community, and the upcoming WriteCamp, and they wonder about this concept of "free". It baffles me that people still place a price tag on the arts, as though it requires one to make it legitimate or viable. I think that there is a strong scholarly taste in peoples' mouths when they speak of literature or other arts and feel that because such things are capable of being criticized publicly, it makes it less scholarly when there's no such venue for critics to make comment on things. I think when people (or groups) like me help people, provide for people, or give to people things that others charge for, it's only natural for them to defend their profession by trying to devalue the work that I and others do for the community.

So my challenge now is to continue the free, open exchange of knowledge, resources, and support throughout the region. It is a challenge I happily accept because I believe strongly in what I'm doing, and I hope to do the best I can at it.