Tag: Ames Writers Collective
Hey Youth Writers! It’s almost fall and time to write at our monthly Swift Youth Writers Groups held on the 2nd Sundays of the month at the Ames Public Library.
This month, join our talented and fun-loving writer and facilitator, Linea King. Click here to read about Linea and her writing philosophy.
Youth writers meet upstairs in the P.E.O. Room from 2 to 4 PM. Do check the monitors incase of room changes. We supply notebooks and pens, and other supplies to prompt and inspire stories.
2nd Sunday Swift Youth Writers Groups are offered as an Ames Writers Collective FREE community outreach program in partnership with the Ames Public Library.
Join Ana McCracken for our Open Write Tuesday on Zoom.
WHAT’S AN OPEN WRITE?
We Zoom in, share what we’re working on, and write for ~90 minutes. At the end, we share our successes, and sign off. Easy peasy.
Click here to register for the Zoom link.
To learn about Ana , check her out here.
Join us for our Open Write Tuesday on Zoom.
What’s an Open Write?
We Zoom in, share what we’re working on, and write for ~90 minutes. At the end, we share our successes, and sign off. Easy peasy.
Click here to register for the Zoom link.
Join Rachel Aukes for our Open Write Tuesday on Zoom.
WHAT’S AN OPEN WRITE?
We Zoom in, share what we’re working on, and write for ~90 minutes. At the end, we share our successes, and sign off. Easy peasy.
Click here to register for the Zoom link.
To learn about Rachel and what she’s written and published, check her out here.
Claire Kruesel
What’s your genre?
Poetry (but I dabble in CNF, memoir, and sci-fi)
Are you published?
Traditional publisher
What inspired you to become a writer?
Perhaps it was being gifted diaries at a young age—or perhaps those gifts were based on observance of an inner drive I felt to document—but I’ve been writing as long as I can remember, and felt a serious devotion to somehow reducing the emotional entropy of this world by putting it into words. In other words, as a young girl writing in my diary, I was trying to figure out the world around me and how I felt about it, and to give it some sort of logical and witnessed form that was also poetic. I always loved reading and libraries, and writing was a way to get closer to those sacred places.
What author do you admire and how have they inspired your writer?
This is the hardest question for me because I find inspiration everywhere, and for me there’s no author who immediately comes to mind as more personally impactful than others. Overall, I often think about how religious texts captured the hearts and devotion of so many through effective storytelling. Humans crave stories as a form of organizing our knowledge, connecting in community, reinforcing values, and ascribing meaning to our experiences. So—the authors of religious texts and songs, even though I am not traditionally religious, inspire me as a writer by demonstrating that there has long been a visceral need for stories. When I’m feeling uninspired as a writer, it gives me courage to remember this.
Name three of your favorite books and their authors.
This is too hard! These are emotional and not academic choices based on childhood/young adulthood:
Neuromancer by William Gibson (1984)
The Wicked Pigeon Ladies in the Garden by Mary Chase (1968)
The Crown Snatchers (English translation of Die Kronenklauer) by F. K. Waechter and Bernd Eilert (1972)
What’s one thing readers should know about you?
The sound of my writing is tied to my training as a choral singer. I’ve been singing continuously in ensembles since 1989 so I’m always thinking about how something sounds, liaises to its neighbors, and connects to the bigger whole (columns/”chords”). Perhaps this will explain the weird physical arrangements in some of my poems.
What one piece of advice would you give to a budding writer?
Craft your life to support the best way you write. I’ve learned that when inspiration visits, I need to have prepared for its arrival. This can look like always carrying a notebook or, more often, drafting a poem in an email app on my phone. I regret every time I brushed off inspiration for a seemly more urgent mundane task of living.
Author Bio
Claire Kruesel (KREE-zuhl) lives and writes from Story County, Iowa, focusing primarily on the intersections of science, art, objects, and grief. She received an MFA in Creative Writing and Environment from Iowa State University. Her poetry has been published in Rattle, the anthologies Fracture and Prairie Gold, and elsewhere. Her day job involves mentoring biochemistry undergraduates on science communication. Claire also teaches Pilates and yoga, travels to France and Italy whenever she can, and sings with Ames Chamber Artists. Click here to visit Claire.
Eva Newcastle
What’s your genre?
Magical Realism
Are you published?
Self published
What inspired you to become a writer?
My late father was an English teacher. I suppose I take after him.
What author do you admire and how have they inspired your writing?
I admire any successful author who can develop a marketable template and craft a bestseller year after year.
Name three of your favorite books and their authors.
On the Road by Jack Kerouac
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury
What’s one thing readers should know about you?
I am a stickler for dialogue.
What one piece of advice would you give to a budding writer?
Don’t take my advice.
Author Bio
I am a classically trained musician with a background in design and film. A Chicago native, I relocated to Ames with a curious assortment of guitar picks and pens. Have typewriter, will travel. Click here to visit Eva.
Join Ames Writers Collective Founder, Ana McCracken for an evening of Words Meet Art held in partnership with “Arts As Alchemy Forgetting to Remember Pieces of Me” a collage exhibit titled, “Pieces of Me” by of artist, author, and musician, Deb Kline.
These events will be held in the Gallery in the Round located at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Ames.
Words Meet Art is a literary arts event celebrating the intersection of words and art, which is referred to as ekphrastic response. Ekphrastic work combines vivid description by a writer of a piece of art, essentially representing a “painting in words.” During these two sessions, writers may write prose, memoir or poetry in response to the collages featured in the exhibit, “Pieces of Me.”
Writers are invited to read their work at the Arts as Alchemy Participant Showcase. Registration is free with RSVP requested. RSVP opportunities during the writing sessions.
Join Ana McCracken, founder of the Ames Writers Collective & the William R. Bliss Cancer Center for Survivorship Day 2024
Complimentary admission is included for this event.
Refreshments & FUN!
Becca the Balloon Lady
Friend’s Flowers Bouquet Building (while supplies last)
Ames Writers Collective: Pop-Up Writing Through Cancer Session
Who is a Cancer Survivor? The National Cancer Survivors Day Foundation defines SURVIVOR as anyone living with a history of cancer – from the moment of diagnosis through the remainder of life.
RSVP for the event, including family/friends at www.blisscancercenter.org/survivor.
#ameswriterscollective #blisscancercenter #writingthroughcancercircles#writingcirclewednesdays
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Join the Ames Writers Collective at our
2nd Annual Swift Literary Festival
at the Octagon Art Festival
Sunday, September 22nd from 10 to 4 PM
Under our tent located in front of 409 Douglas Avenue, we will feature local authors. If you would like to be a featured author, click here to email us.
LOCAL AUTHORS TBD
10 to 11:30
11:30 to 1
1 to 2:30
2:30 to 4
ALL DAY
- Writing-prompt free-writes
- A chance to contribute to our Community Story