The Grove allows writers to get together to share ideas, receive feedback on their work and practice their writing skills. Credit: Courtesy of Michael Patton
As the pandemic forced many organizations into inactivity, one creative writing community is rising from the shadows.
The Grove allows writers to get together to share ideas, receive feedback on their work and practice their writing skills, according to its Ohio State student organization page. Originally within the English department, The Grove has reinvented itself after former leaders of the organization graduated, leaving no one left to take over for the upcoming semester.
Megan Amling, current president of The Grove and a graduate student in social work, and Olivia Warner, a recent Ohio State graduate who still helps lead the organization behind the scenes, managed to keep the group alive and eventually help it thrive, Warner said.
“I’m definitely proud of the fact that we were even able to keep The Grove alive, because in 2020 — basically during the pandemic year — The Grove almost died,” Warner said. “The fact that we were able to revive it and keep it and now we have almost 100 members and regular participation of at least a quarter of them every week is amazing.”
The Grove meets twice a week, with in-person meetings on Sunday evenings at Thompson Library and informal meetings on the group discord server Wednesdays, Amling said. She said these are flexible come-and-go meetings, which ensures members with busy schedules can still participate.
In-person meetings start with a warm-up exercise, small group time and free-write time, Amling said. Discord members get paired with another person to swap and go over each other’s writing.
During her undergraduate years, Warner said she participated in National Novel Writing Month, NaNoWriMo for short, which takes place in November. The group would have “Late Night Writes” on Friday evenings to try to meet the NaNoWriMo goal of 50,000 words per author.
“If you know anything about NaNoWriMo, it’s not quite a race, but it’s like a self-paced nightmare of trying to write,” Warner said.
She said during her undergraduate experience, the leaders of the group would have prizes for students able to hit certain word counts — typically around 18,000 — which she said paled in comparison to the overall 50,000-word goal.
“I guess the fun memory part of it was that we all knew that this was very difficult,” Warner said. “It was so funny that we tried for it anyways.”
Amling said the mindset the group held every November is something writers should keep in mind year-round. Becoming a better writer is about practice, she said –– not perfection.
“If you are writing, even if it’s not what you would consider writing or not what somebody else would consider writing, you’re still writing,” Amling said. “Being a writer is just something that you get to do, and I think if you enjoy it, that’s the most important part.”
Warner said aspiring writers should not be afraid of writing “bad things” because the first draft is called a rough draft for a reason.
“If you never write, you’re never going to get anything done, as the old mantra of ‘practice makes perfect’ is very important,” Warner said.
Those interested in joining The Grove can email [email protected] to be subscribed to the group’s weekly newsletter and get the link to their discord. The group is free to anyone interested.
