Shut Up and Write!

So in my adventures into the "real world" parts of Silicon Valley, I've discovered that most of my pre-college friends have moved away. Many are in the city, but almost none are right here, next to home, like I am.

This has made my social calendar a bit weaksauce, and that inevitably makes for an unhappy Danielle.

The solution? Meetup.com. It's like dating, but to find friends.

I started off with a club of girls (who I absolutely adore -- and did I mention I've recently been promoted to co-organizer of the group? YAY!), and I've now branched out into other meetups, for games, for readers, and now for writers.

Shut Up and Write! has meetups all over the country, from what I can tell. They just recently opened up a south bay group, and I attended one of the first meetings. The diversity of writers surprised me; we have one working on her dissertation, another fantasy writer, a chicklit author, a guy who specializes in nonfiction sports pieces, and so on.

The format is simple: you shut up, write for an hour, and then socialize. I can't say that I developed anything stellar last week, but I did get started on another contest-driven story. Woohoo! I'll be attending two more meetings this coming week. I'm hooked.

Do you have anything like Shut Up and Write! in your area? Do you find it helpful, motivating?