MNSU writing club looking for new members

Caita Pierson
Staff Writer

Once known as Writers of the World, the newly branded Maverick Writers is Minnesota State University, Mankato’s premiere writing club.

Maverick Writers club president, Elle Thoelke, praised the club in recent interview. “The main goal is to have a space for writers on campus to be with fellow writers and to have a place to express their difficulties with writing and to build each other up,” said Thoelke.

Thoelke is a senior creative writing major with a passion for creating stories. This is her first year as president of the club and she has been working the last couple of weeks in preparation for the first club meeting.

“We’re hoping for 15 to 30 members,” said Thoelke. “I feel like that would be a great group of people, a nice community, on the campus”

The meetings, which will be held in the CSU 202, will be comprised of five-minute free write warmups, writing discussions, and potentially English professors to guest speak about their experiences with writing and publishing.

There are no requirements to be in the club except “the desire to write.” To officially join, one must only attend a meeting.

The first meeting is this next Tuesday in CSU 202. Future meetings will be held in this room until further notice. Thoelke specified for students to “feel free to come to any of the meeting and you will be welcomed with open arms.”

Any type of writing is accepted: fiction, non-fiction, poetry, etc. Thoelke explained that it be “anything that is creative in nature.”

When asked what was the best part of being in the club, Thoelke said, “Community, because writing is a very solitary hobby and job. It can get lonely. But if you have a community of like-

minded people who everyone is struggling to write and to publish, then you have a community to commiserate with or celebrate with.”

She continued, “We do have some fun events that we are planning for the coming semester. Last year, we did a creative writing contest that was campus wide. We are going to do that again. We are also planning to have a field trip into beautiful nature because it’s always good to get out into the world and be inspired by what you see and smell around you.”

If this sounds at all interesting, Thoelke urged students to consider joining. All writers are welcome.