The Hot Mess Writers Club existed unofficially for years. This writing critique group began in 2014, when Tracy Daley reached out to Jessica Flory and Valerie Doll, writers she knew from two different creative writing classes at Brigham Young University. Over the next several years, more writers joined, some only for a brief period and some for the long haul. Most only knew the group member who'd connected them, and the critique format was solely over email: one week, writers submitted their words; the next, they submitted critiques of each other's words.
However, they all had lives outside of writing, and unsurprisingly, those lives clashed with the writing group from time to time. Sometimes that meant that the club went on the back burner. Sometimes it meant group members had to adjust their expectations. With differing personalities, styles, and needs, flexibility was key to carrying on through the ups and downs. In 2018, Valerie Doll used the term "Hot Mess Writer Club" to describe the group, advocating for a writing club "we want to be part of . . . even though life is crazy."
The name stuck, though there was much discussion in subsequent years over whether to use "Writers" or "Writers'" when referencing the club in query letters and other written material. Adopting an official name wasn't the only thing that changed for the group: the critique format evolved as well, shifting to full novel critiques over Zoom and Marco Polo. As of 2023, the group members range the gamut of the writing and publishing experience, but wherever they find themselves on their individual writing journeys, they're always there for each other as writing group friends.
*Hot Mess Picture: Copyright 2017 by Susan Murtaugh. No modifications. Used with permission via a Attribution-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic License.
I'm not crying. You're crying.