Last night, I attended the first meeting of the Editorial Freelancers Association, Northern California Chapter (NorCal EFA), which is being spearheaded by my friend and colleague, Robin Martin, of Two Songbirds Press. Originally, I had no intention of going–I, after all, had set aside the majority of my editorial freelance work to pursue my creative writing. Lately, I’ve been trying to focus on my art and the ‘business’ of my art, so I thought it wise to attend the meeting and learn more about the association.

The meeting was in midtown Sacramento (thanks to Janna Santoro), not too far from our old writer’s workshop meetings at the Old Soul at Weatherstone. I was only ten minutes late, which isn’t bad considering I still can’t remember which streets are one way and which way.

At the meeting, along with Robin and Janna, I met four editorial freelancers, all women, all very kind and very accomplished. We each introduced ourselves and our work–I quickly discovered that I was the only attendee there not actively pursuing editorial writing–that is, I was there to forward my creative writing.

During the meeting, they, (‘they’ being the operative pronoun here, because I didn’t contribute much, I thought it unfair once I realized our goals differed) discussed their goals as a chapter. Suggestions included education, outreach and partnerships with other organizations.

I’m glad Robin gave me the opportunity to meet this group of working writers–and I say working, because, damn, they can work it. I believe that the chapter will serve not only the Sacramento writing community, but also its members. If you live in the Sacramento area, you’ll likely be hearing more of the NorCal EFA soon.

The meeting allowed me to decide, again, what I want and what I don’t want. My focus should be on my creative writing and on the business of creative writing, ie: art work.

Recently, I read a post on Adrien Salazar’s blog, discussing her experience at Anthem Salgado‘s workshop, ‘The Art of Hustle‘, (Concrete Education for the the Independent Artist) which was hosted by Kearney Street Workshop in San Francisco. Salazar wrote in her blog:

Something subliminal set the tone of the workshop before it even began — the artwork wasn’t key to this workshop, the art work was. This wasn’t a “how to make art” workshop. This was about getting your work out and having the right attitude to succeed. This is what pushed me to shift my perspective. We are all working artists. That I produce work is a foregone conclusion. I am an artist. So what am I going to to do about it now?

This should be my focus. Anything else will take me away from the ‘work’ of my art. Yes, I am an artist. So what am I going to do about it?

Sign me up for Salgado’s next workshop.