Joining a writers group ...

I started getting into writing a little over a year ago, but it has only really been since Christmas that I've started to take it a bit more seriously. I've met a few people online now who share my interests, and I have one or two friends that I have been brave enough to talk to about it. Of people I know and see every day, only three have ever really read anything I've done.

There is a writers group in the town where I live but unfortunately they have enough members at the moment. I have often thought about joining a writers group and having like minded people to bounce ideas off and to read and give advice about my work. The idea of meeting people and reading my work out loud does fill me with a certain amount of dread I must say.

There is an element of safety I suppose about sending work to anonymous people and not worrying about their immediate reaction. You don't have to take the criticism directly on the chin as it were.

I'm definitely getting braver with what I'm doing though and I'm wondering if it's time to take another step in building my confidence.

I was contacted by another person wishing to start a writers group in the town, who was asking who would be interested in starting it. Apparently I was the only other person was interested so sadly it never got further than the initial query. I was a bit dismayed by the reply of one person who only seemed interested in joining the original group as they had already had a couple of anthologies published. He wasn't interested in a group without this experience.

To me this just said that he was only interested in milking from other peoples success, he wasn't willing to try and work for it in another group. I'm actually quite glad we didn't have a group with him in now.

Are any of you in a writers group or have any experience of them?