Over a decade spent in writing circles, working in publishing for 5 years, countless evenings spent at various critique groups, landing a top agent with good contacts, and befriending some people who are far more talented than me. All kind of coalesced into a melding of friend groups and our little group of creative misfits forming.

I should probably clarify that we have a handful of extreme success stories, and the rest of us are low or mid tier writers. Groups like us aren't rare (although our size is a bit larger than usual) since it's really hard to find quality critique partners. Once you find them, you hold on tight, and writers often stay in the same groups for years (even decades).