Interested in joining? What to expect at Unlocking Words:

Unlocking Words meets on the 4th Sunday of each month (except for holiday weekends). 

Typically we meet in NewSong Church's library (and we'll let you know on the occasional days we meet in another room.) You're welcome to bring your own lunch to eat when we gather directly after the church service. The writers' group will start at 1:00 and wrap up around 3:00. 

Our group includes writers of all types: those who journal and those who publish books for children and adults, we have musicians, bloggers, and more. 

What can you expect from this group? 
 
You will be inspired to write more and share what you write with others.
We are a safe environment to grow as writers and to share our work.
We are a community where friendships are built.
We are led by the Holy Spirit. (God speaks to us there!)
We work together to help each other grow, produce, and publish.

We would love for you to visit!

Unlocking Words, at NewSong Church, 8200 Bell Ln, Vienna, Virginia

For more information contact writers at ournewsong.org or submit a request through this link: http://www.ournewsong.org/contact-et-unlocking-words-writers-group.

What characterizes this writers' group?

These are key principles for what makes Unlocking Words a place that inspires and encourages writers! Come join us (fourth Sundays, but not holiday weekends). 

We are a safe place. Fear is not allowed. We are free to share what God is leading us to write and produce.

We are led by the Holy Spirit. We believe that God has created us in the likeness of our Creator, therefore we ARE as creative as He has created us to be. We know that the Holy Spirit drops ideas into our hearts and minds and we boldly ask him for new ideas.

As writers and creative people, we work individually but also collaboratively. We show up. We are friends. We encourage each other. We speak life. We welcome others.

Want more info? Email writers at ournewsong.org. 

It's That Season Again (Betsy Herman)

At most of our writers' group meetings we do a writing exercise. We're given a topic to write about and after about ten minutes of writing, we share what we've come up with. In August our assignment was to personify an item in the room. Here's one story:

It's that season again, that cold season when my insides are freezing. No, not winter, it's summertime, and it's so cold here in the library - especially on Sundays.

I feel so lonely. For most months of the year I am doing what I was created to do - writing. Warm hands wrap around me, sometimes sticky, sweaty, warm hands of a student, nervous about a class presentation. I hear so much and learn so much here in the library as books are read out loud and classes are taught.

When the kids come back from summer break, the teacher always has them write about their favorite summer activity. Do you want to hear about the highlight of my summer?

Once a month, my room goes from cold and quiet and book-scented to suddenly feeling warm and alive, filled with the sound of conversation and the smells of lunch. The writers' group is in the house and I get to eavesdrop on their conversation all afternoon, sometimes for hours and hours! I get to hear about their lives, the books they're writing, and I learn about so much more. And I LOVE it when they sing for me.

That's what I would write about if the teacher gave me an assignment to tell about my summertime. But I won't be writing such a paper. After all, I'm just a dry-erase marker.

Do you ever feel like this?

Check Out These Spoken Words by Landa Loring

We love having Landa Loring in our Unlocking Words writers' group!



Check out Landa's YouTube channel here.

Words from Bananagrams (by Daniel)

Today we played a round of Bananagrams. Each took seven tiles, made a word and played it. Then we wrote for 15 minutes using one word as a theme for our writing or seeing how many words we could tie together. This is one sample - a catchy poem with rhythm!   

When it comes to stress
I'll take the mess
Turn it into glee
I like strawberries and brie
If you're lost in a maze
It doesn't hurt to bathe
While you're stuck don't stink
Don't wanna miss out,
  afraid to blink
Sometimes things get seedy
Pardon me if I'm needy
Take a trip to outer space
until everything's back in place
Desperate panting like a deer
as everything feels so queer
Don't give up, you're a gem
For now, don't worry about them
Think I'll swing on a trapeze
Sip some lemonaide, fresh squeeze
As the remainder of the grime
tries to turn me into slime
I won't allow the old ties
to rob me of my prize

Here We Are!

Here we are!

Some of us, at least. :)

At our March meeting we used some fun props during our writing exercise, and had to get a picture with them.