Thar She Blows!

I joined a LOT of new (to me) listservs when I opened up shop this year. One of them was a group called MomWriters(TM). It's a HUGE group, but nice in that it was just what it said it was, a group of women (99 1/2% or so) who were all on a level field because they were moms and writers, published, unpublished, didn't matter. We talked about writing, submitting, mined the 1500 or so member list for sources for articles and stories; we talked about kids, discipline, childhood illness, mom-stuff.

At the beginning of this month the listserv exploded when the list owner decided to make membership a privilege (sorry AmEx) and announced there will be a membership fee beginning in January 2006. Hmmm...

I've been in a quandary since. I enjoy the heck out of the group, have been happy to offer what experiences or insights I can to those needing sources, and did a little freebie proofing that led to one of the testimonials on my website. So, while I wasn't getting a whole LOT out of the group besides another excuse to avoid writing cuz I had all this email to read, I was getting something.

Is it worth $60/year? Hmmm... I've been on the fence, since I wasn't getting just tons out of it, and had just decided to drop my IVAA membership when it comes up for renewal in January for that very reason.

I'm a subscriber to Freelance Daily, a writing gigs lead list that is delivered to my inbox 5 days a week, 52 weeks a year (excluding holidays) and that one costs HALF what MomWriters(TM) wants for a year of email.

Thanks to a fellow member posting a note on my personal blog I've gone ahead and joined the first big splinter group, The Writing Mother, but have not yet decided what to do about the other. I'll stick with it until they kick me out in January, if it comes to that, since it seems as though most of the resources of the main list are moving to TWM...

Need to go take the MomWriter(TM) membership reference off my website now...