Creative Writing Group open to all

MILLERTON — On Thursday, July 23, the NorthEast-Millerton Library’s Creative Writing Group held its first meeting. 

The group was led and organized by Patricia Johnson. The informal creative writing group plans to meet every Thursday at 2 p.m. at the library. 

“It’s to bring people together and share experiences,” said Johnson. “There are no set rules.”

Throughout the meeting, participants decided whether to pick an individual subject from a basket, make up their own topic or all write about the same thing. 

Each round, a timer was set for three minutes. During those three minutes, the goal was to not pick your pen up off the paper or your fingers from the keyboard. 

After the three minutes was up, each member shared what they wrote out loud.  There was no requirement to share.

The first round involved each member picking a random word from the basket.  The words chosen were sand, gardening, birthdays, missing and school days. The stories and poems included imagery and reminiscences of the past.

For the second round, the creative writers agreed to write about their first date. Strict parents, crazy junior proms, awkward movie dates and first interactions with a significant other were shared across the rectangular wooden table. 

In the last round participants wrote about the color red. After the three minutes ended and all the writing was shared, a common theme with powerful wording and anger was in evidence.  

Johnson first started doing creative writing in 1990. Her first word was eggplant. 

“It’s fun. You can write what you want,” said Johnson. “The practice is good. It builds confidence.”

The creative writers agreed that writing is makes a difference in their lives. They also said it was very generous of Johnson to host the workshop.

The meetings are scheduled to last between an hour and an hour-and-a-half each week. 

For more information, go to www.nemillertonlibrary.org or call 518-789-3340.