In the fall of 2007 we sat in a circle introducing ourselves. The class, creative writing, gathered a group of people much like any other at The American University of Rome; we could pass for an U.N. seminar. We were Americans, Europeans, Blacks, Latinos, mix and matches of different social lives. Yet we had all chosen to take that course and in that moment our lives would begin to stir together.
Three years later and miles away from the Eternal City, I caught up via phone with a good friend from that writing group. We reminisced about the exercises, the critiques, the general atmosphere of a creative group assembled in the same place with the goal to become better story tellers and share the experience. We both had a yearning for sharing our words and hear others’ stories, our writing process feeling weathered without that ingredient.
That’s how this blog was born. Its purpose and success remains in your hands and creative imaginations.
Here’s how it works:
We choose a setting, character, theme or object that you (we all) will take as a center for a free-style writing piece.
There’s no need for it to be complicated or overly intricate, these are exercises to help the writing fuses roll and twist and stretch so as to prevent them from rotting away.
In addition to these exercises, we encourage all writers to submit whatever story they’re working on and/or need feed back on.
Let us remember we’re an open-aired, motivational environment and all criticism must be given constructively and received, accordingly, with grace.
Thanks for sharing with us,
As our fantastic Professor, Elizabeth G, used to say--
KEEP WRITING!
