We have a universal desire to tell our stories and have them endure. But to write them down means to bare your soul–and that’s hard.
Sometimes we write in secret, not letting anyone know what we’re up to, afraid that the reactions will be negative both to the effort and to the work. Even if we’re open about it, the fear remains. Pushing past fear and unease is difficult; however, in Silver City, two writing groups, with quite opposite approaches, provide safe places to do just that.
GILAWRITERS
Gilawriters is an expressive writing group that meets every Thursday, 2:00pm-4:00pm at the Silver City Public Library at Cooper Street and College Avenue. The group is open to the public, free of charge.
Gilawriters’ approach is based on the following ideas and principles:
• Everyone has a strong, unique voice.
• Everyone can develop their skills of self-expression.
• Writing as an art form belongs to everyone, regardless of economic class or educational level.
• A writer is someone who writes.
At each session:
• Writing is done within a non-hierarchical spirit—everybody including the facilitator writes during the session and shares, if he/she so chooses. At the same time, an appropriate structure is maintained—how we interact as a group—to keep writers safe.
• Confidentiality about what is written in the workshop is maintained and the privacy of the writer is protected. All writing is treated as fiction unless the writer requests that it be treated as autobiography.
• At all times writers are free to refrain from reading their work aloud.
• Feedback on writing focuses on what the writing effectively communicates, without negatives or rewrite suggestions.
• During each session, “triggers” are offered to pique the writer’s imagination. Each writing period lasts from 10-15 minutes. All writing is done within the session.
Gilawriters is about letting go and allowing the ideas to flow through your pen/computer and out into the open. It is about enjoying the work of self-expression.
For more information, contact Trish Heck, Gilawriters Facilitator, at trish.heck@gmail.com or call 575-534-0207.
Gilawriters is sponsored by the Southwest Festival of the Written Word and the Silver City Public Library.
THE CREATIVE WRITING GROUP at WNMU
The Creative Writing Group at WNMU is open to all – beginners, published writers, students, and the community at large. It is offered free of charge. No WNMU course credits are given for attending.
Its purpose is to provide a safe venue for those who wish to have their written work read and reviewed by other writers. The goal of most of the participants is to develop their writing so that it becomes publishable, or in some cases performable.
The Group has had quite a bit of success on this front, with about eight of the regular members publishing the pieces they brought to the group. Several others, including the Poet Laureate of Silver City and Grant County, have performed their pieces in public, having honed the work after receiving editorial comments from the group.
The Creative Writing Group meets the first and third Tuesdays of every month, 6 p.m. in the Kennedy Puentes Room , at the Miller Library, WNMU. Participants should bring 10 copies of their poetry, fiction, memoir or creative non-fiction (5-7 minutes’ worth of reading) to distribute to the group.
For more information, contact JJ Wilson, writer-in-residence, WNMU (wilsonj11@wnmu.edu).
The Creative Writing Group at WNMU is supported by WNMU and the Southwest Festival of the Written Word.
The Southwest Festival of the Written Word’s (SWFWW) mission is to promote reading and writing within our communities. We periodically offers writing workshops that are open to the public for a fee, unique to each workshop. Community writing and reading groups that are open to the public are invited to contact the Festival so that we can help in publicizing their meetings and events. Please send information to info@swwordfiesta.org
Visit www.swwordfiesta.org for full information on SWFWW and on the 2015 Southwest Festival of the Written Word which happens Friday- Sunday, October 2-4!