They look for others who hope to be published, others who deal with similar frustrations and others who might see that a character in a story wouldn't sit and cry when her mother left, but chase after her instead. With an energetic writing community, Cincinnati has many places to harness that kind of cooperation. You are the only one who can create your work. It's a chance to take a break and see what others are doing and hear from other writers in the area. Some have a theme, i.e. romance writing, and some welcome any genre, whether it's children's books, technical or magazine.
Most groups have success stories, authors whose works have made it into publication.
Most also have members reporting their first batch of rejection letters. Our goal is to get published. Several members of the Queen City Writers' Project and Tea and Insanity have been published in Cincinnati, too. But the finished project is just small part of the process. Although many Cincinnati clubs host guest speakers and weekend clinics, groups usually center on workshopping and providing constructive criticism to writers and their pieces.