The Mill Park Library Writing Group was formed in March 2009. It all began with an author night at Mill Park Library with guest author Alice Pung. Alice Pung has won many awards for her writing for instance for her book Unpolished Gem. She won Australian Newcomer of the Year in the 2007 Australian Book Industry Awards.
On the night of the talk at Mill Park Library, Alice talked about her love for writing, her inspiration and her family background.
People signed up on the night to begin the first chapter of a new writing group in the City of Whittlesea. The group now still meets regularly every month and are working towards creating their own anthology. Over the last year and a half, the group has become close and working to encourage each other’s writing. So far, is the only one in the City of Whittlesea.
In the past, the only other writing group that began in the City of Whittlesea was started by Whittlesea U3A approximately 10 years ago in 2000. However that group did not continue and was disbanded a year or so later. During the next 8 years, the City of Whittlesea did not have a designated writing group until 2009. The main objective of the group is to encourage writing, improve writing and to share ideas with other like-minded people.
The diversity of the group is reflected in the varied writing styles and stories. Age range the group is 18-44.
How a Writing Group Session is Run
The writing group meets on the first Wednesday night of the month at 6.30pm at Mill Park Library. Members of the group reside in the local area. Before each session, each member prepares some writing to bring along for discussion. Their writing may range from poetry to short stories and larger projects such as, novels.
When the group meets, the facilitator updates the group on upcoming competitions, writing workshops, author talks and exhibitions.
The Victorian Writers Centre is an excellent resource for writers.
The next part of the meeting begins with each member reading out their writing. After the reading, the writing is then open for discussion from the group. This is a great way for the writer to receive constructive criticism, praise and encouragement. Due to the diversity of the group and their writing styles, healthy discussion often ensues and different viewpoints are expressed. But the atmosphere is always casual and fun.
At the end of the session, the group sometimes engages in a 5 minute writing exercise where a sentence is chosen from a book and the rule is that the stories must begin with that sentence.
Also at the end of the session, a subject is chosen as an exercise for members to work on before the next meeting if they choose to do so or if they are running out of ideas.
The group also keeps in contact by email and they can send their stories to each other if they wish.
The Writing Ahead
In 2011, the group produced their first anthology titled: ‘Plenty of Incidents’. They also gave a name for themselves: The Roadside Writers. In 2012 their second anthology was aptly named: ‘The Roadside Writers Anthology’. These anthologies are a representation of the fact that there are budding writers in the City of Whittlesea. These anthologies are available at Mill Park Library and there will more more to come.
