Writing Group
The writing group meets every second Tuesday morning
Leader: Karyn Thompson
Phone: 0414 895 257
Note: A community house fee of $2 applies
Email: karynthompson1952@gmail.com
“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.”

The Community House writing group is a magical place. It will take you on adventures through deserts with the help of camels, behind the Iron Curtain of Eastern Europe or back to the young love of the post-war era. It will make you laugh at seemingly ordinary items such as tennis skirts and not seldom challenge your imagination. Best of all, it is open to anyone interested in writing! This is the story of a group of true explorers.

Early years
In the early years, many different groups were off to a flying start at the Community House. Quite a few of them were instigated by Jeanette Murray. It was just as the new camping group Tow ’n’ Yarn had taken off that Jeanette asked if anyone had any other talents they wouldn’t mind sharing.

Robyn Northey stepped up and admitted she had been part of a writing group in Swan Hill and used to write short stories and poetry. That was the start of the brand new Writing Group, which started meeting up once a month. Eventually, the group caught the attention of local lady Vonnie Deering.
“I hadn’t been coming to the group for very long when I was asked if I would be interested in leading it”, Vonnie tells me matter-of-factly as we meet up at the Community House. “This was back in 2012, and I decided to give it a go!”
Today, the group led by Karyn Thompson has grown to a dozen eager writers, all with different experiences and backgrounds.

Not too old for homework
“An important aspect is that the group decides what we should do when we meet up. Whether that is writing prompts or doing some sort of exercise, perhaps on dialogue or character descriptions. We also give ourselves ‘homework’. Someone chooses a topic for the next meeting, which we then write about.” Previous topics have been ‘light’, ‘the scarecrow’, ‘brushing shoulders with a celebrity’, and ‘at the bottom of my garden’.
“You can write any way you like, and even on a different topic if you want to, although most people seem to stick to what we’ve decided. It can be fiction, nonfiction, poem, stream of consciousness… Anything really! We read our texts aloud at the meeting, and everyone enjoys that aspect.”