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# Keeping the creative juices flowing at writers’ group
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/keeping-the-creative-juices-flowing-at-writers-group/
- Published: 2007-05-08T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T00:42:59.000Z
- Author: Kevin Herrera
- Tags: local, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*Group for writers gives some much needed inspiration*

ONCE UPON A TIME Being creative can be frustrating, if not downright intimidating. More than one writer has needed some poking and prodding to put pen to paper.

At the Write Away Writing Group, which meets every Tuesday at the Fairview Library, members don’t have to go very far to find inspiration. It’s provided for them in the form of a writing prompt.

Last Tuesday, the word was “nightmare.” As soon as the word was released, the tight-knit group of aspiring writers lowered their heads and began jotting down their thoughts.

For the last five years, dedicated members have been gathering each week to encourage one another and provide constructive criticism. Screenwriters and novelists have come and gone, as have those who write poems and books for children.

All come to get inspired and share tips on how to be successful in a business that can be cruel.

“The incentive for me is that it forces me to write,” said Laurel Shapiro, who specializes in fantasy writing. Shapiro is currently working on a book about a woman who finds the men she dates suddenly turn up dead. “I can’t show up without anything to read.”Members got a kick out of Shapiro’s short story about “Viagra Falls,” which ultimately became Niagara Falls when a group of women blew up the tainted waters because they could no longer take their men’s insatiable sexual appetites.

“You really don’t know what people are going to come up with from one week to the next,” said Sandra Smith, a retired nurse who is currently working on a non-fiction piece for the New York Times and has hopes of writing her own column. “You get so many ideas from other people’s writing and suggestions.”

For three hours, the group sits in a back room of the library and performs various writing exercises. Following each one, members are encouraged to read their work — ranging from light to very dark — aloud for others to critique. One person’s story can lead to discussions about pacing, or appropriateness, character development versus story development, and the importance of being descriptive — showing the reader instead of merely telling them.

“The criticism is very important,” said Dan Anzel, a free-lance writer who has been published in the Los Angeles Times.“I started a short story and within the first two pages, I had five comments that really helped. It’s excellent and has really improved my stories.”

Stories presented Tuesday ranged from a tale about a land made of diamonds and platinum to a bank robbery gone bad in Dallas to an obnoxious boyfriend who tries to pressure his girlfriend into having an abortion.

Most of those who participate in the group are retired or disabled and are, therefore, able to commit three hours each week to the cause, while others float in and out. There have been writers from China, Ireland, Australia and Africa.

“Perhaps a lot of people who walk through here have their hands in different baskets,” said Mary Phillips. “I’m retired, so I have the time, but really, it’s about one’s dedication.”

After sharing some of their work, members threw out five words to include in this week’s writing prompt. They included “moonlight,”“flexible,”“dancing,”“radical” and “lizard.”

The writing group is free and open to the public. Those looking to test their creative skills can find out more by contacting the Fairview Library at (310) 450-0443.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on May 8, 2007.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/050807.pdf?ref=smdp.com)