If you want to be a writer, write!

Squamish Writers Group

Article written by Madeleine Somerville
Special to the Sea To Sky News
Apirl 12, 2007

This is the sage advice given to many aspiring writers, direction which is both enticing and infuriating in its simplicity. But besides being the go to speech for would-be novelists and poets alike, this dictum also serves as the philosophy behind the Squamish Writer’s Group, which meets every two weeks to do just that.

Composed of a core group of eight to ten writers, but reaching up to thirty others through its newsletter, the Squamish Writer’s Group has been inspiring writers to write for almost two years now, “It’s nice to meet and talk with other writers,” says Jude Goodwin, who organizes the group, “It’s inspiring and we’re all at different stages...some have been published before, so they can share that experience and information and we also workshop each other’s pieces and give feedback...some of thr writes quite like that, and we don’t rip it to shreds or anything”.

Sprung from a popular writers group in Whistler called the “Vicious Circle “, the Squamish chapter started with an ad in the paper which garnered a large response and attracted many of those who are still in the group today. The group thrives on discussion, collaboration and diversity and is a way for those in Squamish to build lasting communicative relationships with others who share their same passion for the written word.

Those who make up the core group of writers who attend the twice monthly meetings are a diverse mix, “We’re not all the same kind of writers” says Goodwin, “Some of us are prose writers, some write creative non-fiction and some of us are poets...it’s a big age span, our youngest must be in her late twenties and our oldest must be in her eighties”

With all the differences in age and style, does anyone exhibit that particular degree of eccentricity and madness that seems to characterizes the best writers? Goodwin laughs and demonstrates her quick wits by neatly sidestepping the question, “We all have very interesting personalities” she says with a chuckle, “Myself included, but eccentric? I don’t know, the older I get the more I realize that pretty much everyone I meet is eccentric...”

Although the early meetings of the writer’s group often focused on giving feedback to each writer’s piece, the tone of the meetings has evolved over the years and a current highlight is the assignments given to the writers’s each week. A topic is picked at random out of a hat and participants are asked to present their piece on the topic at the next meeting, in whatever style they choose.

“Really it’s just a way to get the writers writing during the two weeks” says Goodwin, “they have to read it out loud, which is also very good because it seems like it’s expected from writers...this gets them used to that.”

These assignments provided especially fruitful for local author Mary Billy, who was encouraged by the results of one particular assignment “There’s one poem in [my new book] that I actually wrote as one of our assignments. We were to write about a body part and I write about my right hand, the hand that writes. I thought it was good enough so I slipped it in at the last minute”

Describing her poetry as “feminist poetry, anti-violence and anti-war” , Billy has been writing for thirty of forty years and has published three books, her latest release titled “She Is Carved In Stone”. Billy joined the group about a year ago, after being part of several writer’s groups and even having a group of her own at one point in the eighties.

Billy is very appreciative of what the writers group offers, “I just think being around other writers, and hearing them read their work is inspiring.” she says, “Even knowing that there are other people doing the same thing... I really appreciate how Jude’s taken the lead.”

Aside from gathering inspiration from her writer’s group assignments, Billy says that age too has altered the style and content of her work, “I think it’s refined and improved over the years” she says, “When you get old, you get a lot more confident because you don’t care whether people like your stuff or not and you don’t care whether they like you or not either ! It’s very freeing”

Both Billy and Goodwin describe the group’s atmosphere as supportive and collaborative, and all feedback is done constructively. But when it comes down to it, the focus of the group seems to echo to that sage advice, “For many, it’s a challenge to just write” Goodwin says ” That’s the whole thing about becoming a writer, is you need to write all the time. Even if you’re not writing any great stuff, you just have to write.”

If you’re interested in attending the next meeting of the Squamish Writer’s Group, contact Jude Goodwin at 604-898-1013.