By Samantha Kang ~
“When I couldn’t find it, I eventually decided that I should found one on my own – because this is something that I’m really passionate about.”
This is how Olivia Muly explains her decision to establish the Creative Writing Club at Penn State this past summer. Winner of the 2016-17 Penn State Reads competition, where “First-year students were invited to participate in an essay contest in order to further engage with the themes of… The Circle by Dave Eggers,” Muly has long been passionate about writing. Despite the fact that Muly is majoring in biotechnology and minoring in German, she has been writing creatively ever since she was young – it was one of the only things she was naturally really good at.
Early on, she realized that writing is useful to numerous other aspects of her life, even in the smooth flow of scientific papers: “You know good writing from bad writing. Everyone knows it when they see it. And it’s an important skill to have.”
Muly also expressed her love for reading and also loves critiquing it. After looking at what she likes and doesn’t like, she was able to incorporate this into creating her own style.
So, how exactly did the Creative Writing Club come to be? Muly says that in freshman year, she went to a Kalliope meeting, which is for Penn State’s literary journal. While she really enjoyed it and found it to be interesting, it wasn’t exactly what she was looking for. She wasn’t looking to be an editor of creative work, but she wanted to write the stories with a group of people because that’s where her passion lies.
The mission of the Creative Writing Club is to create a community at PSU where writers of any background all come together and help each other to improve their craft. The club is currently focused on NaNoWriMo, the National Novel Writing Month, where people from all over the world write and submit a 50,000-word novel in just the month of November. In the club, each person writes a chapter and works together in creating the novel. After November, they will continue to edit the novel and create their own copies! They also do lots of free writing, writing activities, and prompts, along with critiquing work for members outside of November. The club often provides information around campus for related opportunities and scholarships for writers.
Anyone can join, as long as you love to write creatively, from novels to poetry to stories. If you write in your free time and want to be with people with similar interests, this club would be the perfect fit for you. Anyone who wants to join can email Muly at her PSU email, oqm5069@psu.edu, or any of the officers on their website or the PSU clubs website or contact their advisor, Professor Julia Kasdorf. They meet once every 2 weeks on Mondays at 6 pm in 105 Wagner – and occasional meetings downtown at Webster’s or cafés especially during the month of November. Muly excitedly explained how they sometimes have a “downtown shindig” with snacks and writing time.
What do people gain personally when they join this club? Muly says you make friends with people with similar interests, grow as a writer, and just have tons of fun.
The creation of this club has opened doors for creative writing on campus that wasn’t available before. Penn State has lots of journalism and editing and poetry clubs, but there has never really been a place to write all different kinds of creative writing. The Creative Writing Club adds a crucial part to our creative arts community on campus.
Check them out!
Website: https://sites.psu.edu/creativewritingclub/
Facebook: @WritersPSU