An Update on COVID-19
Post date: Nov 18, 2020 1:41:28 AM
Yes, we're still here! And we're doing everything we can to keep our members safe and sound.
We've been meeting at our regular time and date every month, but instead of meeting in person we've been utilizing online conferencing programs. Specifically, we have been using Google Meet, a free-to-use conferencing app similar to Zoom. The ease of using Google Meet and the current unlimited connection time have made it the primer choice for our needs.
While I'm sure we all miss the personal connection of being in the same room together, temporarily moving to an online medium has afforded other bonuses as well. Our last meeting, on November 14, we were able to have a speaker from Las Vegas, Nevada speak for us! We've also had several speakers from St. Louis since we've switched to online conferencing, saving them a long round trip back and forth to our little town of Hannibal, MO. In that same vein, we've also pulled in participants from New Mexico and Colorado who ordinarily wouldn't have been able to sit in on our meetings otherwise.
Using Google Meet for a NaNoWriMo write--in. Members left to right, top to bottom: Aaron Taylor, Ryan Cort, Jessica Foster, Ryan P. Freeman.
As much as I'd like to give an estimated time of when we'll be back together again face-to-face, it's really hard to say. I was following up on an email from a potential speaker just a couple weeks ago that I had emailed back in April. Back then we had talked about hoping the virus would pass by July! And here we are in November! There's no telling where the world will be in the coming months. For now, we'd rather be safe than sorry, and do our part to slow the spread of COVID-19.
We'll let you know as soon as we know when we'll meet in person again. I'm really crossing my fingers that we can celebrate our third guild birthday together in January, but even a couple months from now it seems very unlikely. But I will definitely be looking into it in the very least. We'll see!
Until then, we'll see you on Google Meet at the next meeting!
Keep writing!
-Dana Lockhart
President of HWG
