 "Photo: Gingi Edmonds")
"You don't need to be a great writer; you just need to be willing to try."
This is the message that is being broadcast throughout campus by Diana Hallare, Editor-in-Chief of "The Working Title" -- a new literary journal by the COS Creative Writing Club, "The Quill".
The independently funded club has been brainstorming ideas for weeks, looking for ways to raise enough money to turn willing students into published authors. They recently finished a book drive and are now contemplating fundraising classics like bake sales and car washes. They even discussed taking a guitar to local Farmers Markets and reciting poetry for donations!
Now, the two-semesters-old club is currently searching for students and school faculty to submit poetry and prose for upcoming publication in their new literary journal, "The Working Title."
The goal of this literary compilation is to display a sort of kaleidoscope-in-print of student's thoughts and feelings on campus. Eddie Aispuro, one of the founding members of the club, expressed how "The Working Title" is designed to serve as more than just a medley of works.
"When we first started tossing ideas around in forming the Journal, I just wanted to hear other people's ideas," said Aispuro. "You can learn a lot about how people think and what is important to them through creative writing. That's what this journal is about."
Eddie also stressed that you don't have to consider yourself an author to submit your prose and poetry. You don't need to be a member of the club and you don't necessarily even have to be a writer. All you need is a pen and paper (or a keyboard and, um, fingers) and you already have what this group is looking for.
"Amateur work is more than welcome. Students shouldn't be intimidated submitting their work to us. This is what we want," said Aispuro.
"We have a variety of students in our club: English majors, Journalism majors, Mathematics majors. I used to be a Physics major," Aispuro explains after a cheerful group meeting disperses. "Anyone can contribute."
If you are thinking about trying your hand at sharing your literary self and being a published co-author in the COS Journal, where do you start? You simply dream up something along the lines of this year's theme, "The Valley".
The valley of what, you're wondering? This is where your creativity comes into play! It could be the Central Valley in California. Or it could be a spin on the biblical Valley of the Shadow of Death. "You can do anything with the theme. The possibilities are limitless. You could even make it, 'The Valley of Crazy Robots' if you wanted to!" says Aispuro,who helped come up with the theme for the first issue. "We're also looking for original artwork based on the theme for the cover as well."
Now that you've dreamed up your valley, here's what Editor-in-Chief Diana Hallare says you should do:
- Keep your prose (fiction, nonfiction, and essays) to a 5,000 word maximum.
- If you'd prefer to write poetry, try to submit about three poems, 10 pages max.
- Send in your unpublished works only. And keep in mind, submissions outside the theme, but following the guidelines is still welcome.
But hurry, the deadline for submissions is February 28, 2010! You can send your works to theworkingtitle@yahoogroups.com and put "Submissions" as the title of your e-mail. The first issue is scheduled to come out in May and will be available for purchase at COS bookstores.
If you'd like more information, or feel your inner artist stirred, you can join "The Quill" Yahoo Groups at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/theworkingtitle.
Who knows? COS may contain the next Shakespeare. And it could be you.
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