Local group has the write stuff
By Caitlyn Kelleher JOURNAL REPORTER

The small group talks about writing, publishing and other issues during their 90- minute meeting at the Townsend town hall. JOURNAL PHOTO/CAITLYN KELLEHER

It is a small group that varies from month to month, meeting on the first floor of Town Hall.

It is the Townsend's writers club that is comprised of members from Ashburnham, Townsend, Ashby and other area communities.

Members trade tips on everything from resources for improving grammar, to suggestions for story lines and subject matter.

Jan Parrett, of Ashburnham, attending her second meeting in February, told one member who wrote about the laundry, "I like how you could write so much about something I don't notice."

Members bring samples of their work to let others read or to read aloud to the group.

"The best tool is criticism," said Cheryl Pillsbury, a self-published author who has been a member for a couple years.

Pillsbury will have five books published by the end of April ranging from a children's book to an adult book about vampires.

She is able to give the other members advice including "know your character," and "there's a lot of rejection" in the business. She also recommends resources she uses for research and editing.

"I enjoy coming here and listening to the stories and the critics," said Pillsbury's husband, Grover. "I usually sit back here and listen."

Parrett participates in the Leominster Senior Writing Club but is hoping to get her work to a point where she can get it published.

"I have what I think is a pretty good story," she said. "But I wouldn't begin to know how to break it into chapters and ready it for publishing."

She is hoping the group can help her turn her modern-day western mystery into a book she can send out to publishers.

Librarian Heidi Folwer founded the group as a way to bring writers together. She knows that a support group is important.

Folwer said that as the facilitator she can serve in whatever capacity the individual members require.

"I can give you a deadline if you want me to give a deadline," Folwer said. "Do you want to get published. Do you just want a set of ears?"

Regardless of her role, Folwer's goal remains constant: to encourage writers to write.

The writing club plans to meet on Wednesday, March 28, at 7:30 p.m. in Room 1 of Memorial Hall.

For more information call the library at (978) 597- 1714.