A community is a group of individuals with one linking factor. Sometimes it's where they live, the language they speak, or the beliefs they live by. Often it's a love for something that they share - such as a love for the written word and a desire to tell stories.
Communities fascinate and inspire me. I am amazed to see how one linking factor can bring together such diverse groups of people. The various communities that I find myself drawn into all mean so much to me. We as humans love to feel included, to be part of something bigger than ourselves, to have others we can go to who will understand us.
I could go on and on about communities. And perhaps I will, at another point in time. But for now, I bring them up because of one specific community that is in the exciting stage of coming into being.
The creative writers of Bob Jones University are assembling.
Did I have a small hand in the beginning of this assembly? Possibly. If I did, it was simply because mine was the hand that gave a little nudge out of the door (in the words of a famous wizard). Sometimes, for a community to be born, all you need is a little push. Here, from my point of view, is what happened...
To begin with a little background information, I attended Western Wyoming Community College for two years, getting my Associate of Arts with emphasis in English as well as a Creative Writing certificate. I loved the creative writing classes I took there, and I especially loved the feeling of community that existed among the writers. We had a very diverse group from our classes together and a writer's group that was open to the public, but we all had a strong sense of being able to share our work, give feedback, and generally have a support system. I valued that immensely, both for the friendships I made and for all the ways that it encouraged me and gave me solid growth as a writer.
When I transferred to Bob Jones University last semester to pursue my Bachelor's in creative writing, I was wondering what I would find among the other creative writing majors. Would there be a family I was jumping into? A spirit of camaraderie and sharing? Well...sort of. I did get to know a few other creative writing majors during my first semester, which was a start. In general, though, I felt like that collective spirit was lacking, which admittedly discouraged me.
Thank goodness for the creative writer's forums that we have here at BJU. Not only are they brilliant and helpful, but I feel like they are a big part of what helped get the ball rolling. After our forum last semester, I spent time chatting with two other creative writing majors, and we decided to do a dinner together. At that point it was just the three of us. When we came this semester, we revisited the idea, even adding one more person (although it ended up being only three of us again at the actual dinner). This was a start - I knew there were at least a few people who wanted to see things come together like I did. But I wanted something bigger. This is where I gave a little nudge.
Our next creative writer's forum was coming up, and I knew it was the best chance I had. So I hunted down the emails of all the creative writing majors (29, to be exact, over half of whom I didn't know), and I sent out a message. It was very simple - I just suggested that since we would all be headed to dinner after the forum anyway, those who wanted to might as well go together. You have to realize, sending that email scared me. I didn't know how people would respond or what they would think. "Who does this crazy transfer student think she is, barging in and trying to pull things together like she's something cool?" Probably people would never think that, but I had no idea. Still, I wanted to see if anything would happen. So I went for it.
I never expected the response. I got a few emails back from people who said they thought it was a good idea and wanted to come. That was more encouraging to me than they know. And then after the forum (which was excellent, by the way), several people started gathering around, asking if we were still on for dinner. We ended up with around a dozen people marching down from the Alumni Building to the Dining Common. I believe we ended up having seventeen people that night - and there were others who had expressed a desire to come but couldn't because of previous plans.
At one end of the strange L-shaped group of tables we had wrestled together to fit all of us, I just sat there, grinning, watching everyone, listening to the din of conversation and laughter, picking out bits of discussions over books and movies and goodness knows what. It was so fun and encouraging.
Then, towards the end of the dinner, with those who had stayed longer, things began to roll even more. One guy brought up the idea he had been having of setting up an online way to share our work and give feedback. We mentioned the possibility of getting together a petition for a novel writing class (which hasn't been offered here for the past few years). Another brought up the possibility of a literary journal for our school - a lofty but awesome future goal. I tentatively mentioned the idea of just having times to hangout in more of a writer's group format to further share work and offer feedback. We tossed around ideas, and I realized, I was definitely not the only one who wanted to see a community come together.
In the last week, we've had a chain of emails going to further discuss and solidify these plans. Our next creative writer's dinner is this Tuesday night. A community is starting to form.
Am I boasting, saying that I made this happen? Not in the slightest, because I really don't think I did. We're all making it happen, because we all had the same ideas. It just took someone to say "Hey, let's do something." And if I in some small way was that someone, I am honored.
The thing is, this isn't about me. It's about us. And I can't wait to see where this community goes.
