By David Fleet
dfleet@mihomepaper.com
Brandon Twp. — Area youth writers will have a unique opportunity to join others from the community to hone their craft with local author and reporter Shelby Stewart-Soldan for a summer writing series.
From 4:30-5:30 p.m., June 6, 13, 20 and 27 at the Brandon Township Library for “Writing Expedition.”
“Writing is a very fluid form of expressing of what’s going on inside,” said Stewart-Soldan. “Over the years it’s been my way of expression and a way to handle issues I encounter in life. Some artists use paint brushes, others build cars or sing, I write.”
Stewart-Soldan, a 2017 Oakland University Journalism graduate and current reporter for The Citizen newspaper has won several writing awards from the Michigan Press Association, covering a variety of topics. In addition, she’s penned several books.
“Every week we’ll spend a little bit talking about an aspect of writing, including tense, point of view, expressing an emotion, format and dialogue,” she said. “We’ll put pen to paper, or fingers to keyboards, and work on our own projects.”
Stewart-Soldan encourages participants to bring ideas into the series and will be there to help formulate ideas, answer questions, and work through writing issues that arise to help build writing skills. At the end of each session, anyone can share what they wrote with the group (or not) and get constructive and positive feedback. Participants will all also get a notebook.
“I hope participants take away skills to be used later in life,” she said. “The series is a platform for writers to find community support for an often isolating profession. It’s sometimes difficult for some youth, who don’t play sports or have the opportunity to hang-out with friends during the summer months, to just sit at a keyboard and write. We’ll strive for solace in writing together.”
This program is sponsored by the Brandon Groveland Youth Assistance. Ages 12-17. Register at brandonlibrary.org.