This girl writes at WriteGirl

I attended an event that I found to be eye-opening. That's the reason behind my writing this. I belong to a writing organization where I'm a mentee. I learn from the women around me and grow with them. It's called WriteGirl. Nowhere will I ever feel as included as I do here. I don’t understand how it’s possible for an environment to be so stress-free. It’s hard to find something like that now.

Today we all got together and discussed poetry. We were given prompts and wrote such amazing things with them. Hearing people share how they interpreted the prompt was life-changing. It truly reminded me how differently everyone thinks.

I walk in with confidence. I know these girls, we get along, yet we barely meet in person. As I enter the door and walk up the stairs, my shoes hitting the floor, I sigh—one of contentment, of course. While signing in, a girl next to me spoke to me. Quick friends we became, sitting at the same table awaiting our mentor to speak to us. My mentor was the one who had graciously given me that advice. I had written a story that I felt nervous about. Feeling the need to justify it, I went on a tangent. Honestly, she saved me from myself.

One of our writing prompts today was to describe one article of clothing that we treasure and adore. I wrote about a sweater my sister had spilled coffee on.

Coffee stained
But
Not smelling such.
Yet,
Keeps me warm as a cup of it does.

Though a small piece of writing, I now hold it dear. It's simplistic, yet telling. I will not go on to explain my story, as I'm following the advice my mentor gave me. I wish now that I had shared this piece with the rest of the room. Both my mentor and a fellow mentee at my table had praised it, but fear was holding me back. I made a promise to myself to never let that happen again. A missed opportunity for no reason.

Reiterating my point from before, the other women would not judge my work. They have no reason to. That’s not because my work is that good, but because we’re all here to learn, not to judge or hate. I type this in confidence because I believe it to be true.

I'm more than looking forward to another in-person event at WriteGirl. I've never felt so supported by a group of women and so understood. I now get to use the work I created there as inspiration for stories and new writing pieces.