Why Do I Try?

I don't know why I keep going to writers conferences and writing groups, they are REALLY frustrating. I went to my writers group today and met with four other young/new writers and for the most part it was a good experience, I enjoyed the company of others engaged in this craft but somewhere in the midst of everything I get this comment, "It feels too safe, too normal." I can understand if the comment was addressed towards an element of craft but it was, rather, addressed to the content of my story, to the characters who occupy it, and, I would hope without intent, to the mind that created it.

I am fascinated with ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances and I feel like if I am not playing with form, adding some supernatural element, or writing about the most traumatic thing I can think of, I am being dismissed. I don't really understand it. The point for me is to document the human condition in all of its glory and, yes, there were problems with the piece I handed into the group and I got some great feedback on it, but this isn't the first time I have ran into the issue of the "too normal, too small-towny" argument and it just pisses me off. At one point someone wrote on my manuscript, "here we are in Amish country." Give me a break.

If I am learning anything these days, it is that I need to be much more selective with my readers and who I open myself up to in terms of commenting on drafts of my writing. Plus, talking about writing is not the writing itself and I need to pick and choose the events I attend where I know people will be "talking" about the writing.