Kudos for going to the launch and taking the initiative to talk to people.

Thanks, karen9. It worked out surprisingly well. Better than I thought it might. :-)

It looks as if this experience was useful to you because you could speak to published, even though not well-known, authors.

It was useful. As that unpublished writer said to me, it's nice to know that there are writers who manage to get their work published. Writing is such a lonely pursuit and it's really easy to get discouraged. It's good to hear about other writers' experiences -- positive and negative. And, of course, advice is always useful.

I think a writing circle would have to include published authors to help you further on a professional path.

Yes, that's definitely a good point. I know that both of the recommended groups have published authors as members. I'm just hesitant about joining because I'm not writing for either of the main genres they cover. What I should really do is fire off an email and see whether I'd even be accepted as a member.

I like that the one author immediately recognised you as a writer!

Yes, that was very encouraging! I'm happy I give off that vibe! :-)

P.S. I'm glad to read that you have some scruples! :o)

LOL! Yes, not a lot of them, but some. *g*