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The vision of writers meeting with other writers to socialize and kick around ideas sounded good but never took off. They tried and tried but no one would come to a meeting. A Blackboard Bulletin Board was set up so writers could post their work and get a peer review... no one posted. Why would you? You could walk into the Writing Center to get a peer review by students who were hand picked by English professors because of their superior writing skills, had gone through rigorous training in how to tutor and how to write, and were highly qualified as peer reviewers.
The Guild managed to have two great workshops, one each year the Guild existed. The first workshop was a panel of six professional writers who answered questions on how to get started in writing. This event had 100 attendees. This was a big deal, this was a success. Christopher Corbett, a former journalist for several papers including the Baltimore Sun offered his gems of wisdom on how to break into journalism. Unfortunately, it wasn't the answer we wanted to hear. His answer was the same as is said to those who want to break into Radio: move all the way out into "Fly Over" Country and work for practically nothing. Once you've been writing for a few years, then you can try to work your way back to the West Coast or the East Coast by writing across the country working your way back to the coast. It's the only way, you'll never get a break on the coast until you've paid your dues.
Another panelist talked about her mistake in not getting a lawyer to review her first book contract before signing. She thought she was going to get paid for writing three books. It turned out that she was getting paid for only one book, the most successful one but was contracted to write three. Lesson Learned: Have your lawyer or your PR Manager read the contract before signing.
The second event was a Comedy Writing Workshop. One of the Guild members knew a professional comedian and asked him if he would conduct a Comedy Writing Workshop Pro Bono and he said yes. He was a bizarre fellow for a comedian because I didn't find him funny. He was rather lifeless. The information he shared was no different than what we had learned in regards to Writing Tutor techniques to assist writers in developing their thoughts when being required to write, especially when they didn't like writing. The Comedy Writing Workshop didn't have the same attendee draw as the Writer's Panel either. 12 people attended the workshop and four of us were the Guild's officers.
The Writer's Guild only lasted three years. Those who were the visionaries and came up with the concept handed it off to the the four who had attended the few meetings that were held. The Guild continued to functioned for two more years. At the end of the third year, the Guild tried to hold an Officers meeting and only one officer showed. The Writer's Guild collapsed.