The La Verne Writers’ Group and Workshop
I think it is very beneficial for anyone thinking about joining us to know how we went from a writing class to an authors’ group.
In 2009, I started teaching classes and tutoring high school students at the La Verne Community Center.
Throughout the years, those that were seriously interested in writing and publishing their own work became the Friday afternoon workshop group. Here, we honed our talents by learning new writing techniques as well as critiquing each other’s work.
With the support of our group, it didn’t take long for our dreams to become reality as, first one, then the rest of us self-published our novels.
We decided we wanted to share our work with our family, friends, and fans. In 2014, we started our Afternoon with your Local Authors program, and the La Verne Writers’ Group was born.
We also wanted to encourage young, talented writers. Consequently, in 2016, we started the La Verne High School Students writing contest.
There are other things we would like to do in the future; however, we are, and will always remain, a group of writers that meet once a week for support.
If you are interested in joining us, here are a few things you should know.
- We meet every Friday from 1:30 to 3:30 PM at the La Verne Community Center from January through June and September through November. We do not meet in July, August, or December.
- A $10 monthly fee covers the cost of the room rental
- A $2 monthly fee covers the cash awards for the writing contest
- Members email out a chapter or story each week, which will be critiqued by the group at the next meeting. Members must send out something at least twice a month.
- Once a year, nominations are made for books to be read by the group each month. All genres are encouraged. A discussion about the book’s format, content, writing style, etc. is held at the end of the month.
- Time permitting, we still have lectures on different writing techniques, with corresponding exercises.
- Members also share new writing information, their publishing experiences, and marketing ideas.
- Anyone interested in participating in our events must be a current member.
We welcome all serious writers who are well versed in grammar and the different writing techniques.
If you would like further information, please contact us at lvwg2015@gmail.com
Toni Eastwood, Professor