“Words Matter”

Originally founded as a society of professional writers, in recent years Seattle Free Lances membership has grown to include publishing industry professionals and writers who are actively working toward publication. It is our goal to support the continued success of our published members while also encouraging the aspirations of those writers whose ultimate aim is to become published.

We continue to meet once each month, on the first Tuesday evening, to share our stories, seek encouragement and enjoy the fellowship of our peers.

A Message From Our President

Dear Fellow Writers,

Reflecting upon Seattle Free Lances, I see great change--from just a few folks coming to our dinner meetings before last September, to many showing up, enjoying each other’s company. Indeed, as I’ve called the evening event to order, I’ve been reluctant to interrupt this lively and energetic group. And I’ve changed too, growing more relaxed in my role as President as we go into our eighty-eighth year.

Change--new people coming to learn what being a professional writer means as they talk and enjoy the company of professional writers. Change--discovering new opportunities, exciting possibilities. Change is tough. Briefly we may panic, momentarily becoming T.S. Eliot’s Prufrock: Do I? Do I dare disturb the universe? Oh, yes, change. What happens if I—write that? Send it off? What if it gets accepted? What if it gets rejected? If I am not writing anything right now does that mean I’m not a writer? If I don’t get paid or paid much for what I write, am I less a writer? What’s success? Do I have to be a celebrity? Is that what it’s all about? Is there something I need to change about how I see myself as a writer to—to what? Be ok about being a writer? Be ok about writing but not getting rich by writing? If I make a living by writing but my heart is not into it, what does that mean?

Questions, questions, and the ramifications for the changes in our perceptions about "what it means to be a writer"—can be both daunting and unsettling.

Dostoyevsky observed, “take a new step, utter a new word”. Such can be difficult when we "dare disturb the universe." But how much easier change is, when faced with the support of community. And that is what Seattle Free Lances offers us all—community.

I know that being with folks in the Seattle Free Lances, all of whom are “daring to disturb the universe” and hence inviting change—means that I am in good and brave company.

--Bruce Taylor