Creating an inspiring writing haven

Writing has been a hobby — no, a passion — of mine for a few years now. Ever since eighth-grade English class, I have been inspired to bring pen to page. Yet, despite my love for all things pertaining to English, I never had any school-time devoted to creative writing. Sure, most English classes bring the inevitable creative assignment, and extracurricular activities such as copy-editing for the yearbook allow me to dabble in basic narratives.

However, there was no opportunity to refine my creative pieces, save at home or the summer workshop at Brown University, until I received an email from my advisor, stating that The Paperclip, the school's literary journal, would now become a creative writing and publications class. Problem solved. Of course I signed up, elated to finally have a class dedicated to creative writing.

The course is admittedly odd, but the students revel in these oddities. It is the only class that meets during lunch — yes, we bring our food into the classroom and eat and write, as it matches the informal ambiance — and is the sole course that comprises two entirely different sections: creative writing and publication.

The first section recently ended, much to our dismay, but the multitude of writing workshops and creative assignments inspired us to continue experimenting with our styles. Headed by Laura Maffei, a published poet and Lawrence Woodmere Academy English teacher, the class is primarily discussion-based, providing the students an opportunity to cultivate new pieces and present their latest endeavors. There are on only four students and that creates an intimate atmosphere and renders Room 101 a writing haven.

Maffei encourages the students to share individual projects of any desired genre and provides prompts to expand our technical and stylistic capabilities. Much of the conversations flow like tangential chats, one minute debating the alleged pretentiousness of postmodernism, the next critiquing a student's piece, a third expressing a collective love of James Joyce.