People tend to think of writers as solitary folks, but around the world, there are a number of groups who meet every week, devoted to bringing writers together to collaborate and support each other’s work. MHS’s own Creative Writing Club, run by Nicole Scherder, language arts teacher, is one such group.

Daphne Wang, junior, is the vice president of CWC.

“It’s a meeting of questionably sane people who have too many thoughts to not put on paper,” Wang said. “So instead of staying silent, on Tuesday afternoons we congregate and share our madness with others, whether it be in the form of an old crumpled notebook paper or a 50,000 word contest entry.”

Wang said that, to truly describe the nature of the club, one would have to quote James Dickey in saying that the members are the people who “stand outside in the rain, hoping to be struck by lightning.”

Trishna Limaye, junior, concurs with the above description.

“This year is my second year as president, and what makes it especially fun is getting to hear unique, and strange, ideas we wouldn’t otherwise hear,” Limaye said. “That definitely leads to some rather interesting conversations.”

This year, CWC is planning to focus more on college essays and writing contests, Limaye said.

“Currently, we’re working on improving general writing skills through prompts and edits, which is always a good time,” Limaye said. “My favorite thing we’ve done so far was finding really horrendous beginnings to novels and trying to imagine where in the world the author was trying to go.”

This month is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), during which participants write at least 50,000 words in one month, so it’s the perfect time to join and really see the group in action.

“And now I must hop into the promotion bandwagon – join CWC,” Limaye said. “Why? Because we’re fun and cool, and there’s free food. Who doesn’t like free food? Nobody, that’s who.”