The city of Moscow is often associated with the arts — a haven for creative types.
One group in particular found their home among the area’s writing community: the Kenyorys.
“It’s a creative group,” said Jay Dearien, a founding member of the Kenyory Writing Group. “Kenyory comes from the Japanese expression for ‘the pen is mightier than the sword.’”
The Kenyorys meet year-round as a way to encourage each other to write.
But their busiest meeting times occur during National Novel Writing Month, a popular challenge where people of all ages attempt to write a 50,000-word manuscript throughout November.
The group meets weekly at 10 a.m. on Saturdays at Cafe Artista during the year, and in November, they add additional meetings at 3:30 p.m. on Wednesdays at Popo.
Usually, six to eight people show up for meetings normally, Dearien said, but more — around 10 to 30 — attend November’s meetings.
The group started after one of Dearien’s friends, Sonya Bramwell, asked him if he would meet with her, so she could spend more time writing her book during National Novel Writing Month. Eventually, more people began to attend the meetings, and they transitioned from a purely National Novel Writing Month focused group to a year-round writer organization.
“It’s a regular thing, you show up and get some writing done, face the page,” Dearien said. “It’s a lonely, self-involved process, trying to write a novel. The idea of being able to go (to a meeting) and be with other people who are also lonely and self-involved makes it less lonely.”
The members of the Kenyory Writing Group participate in more than just their weekly “write-ins.” Instead of electing officers, Dearien said group members can choose to spearhead projects outside of the allocated meeting time.
Dearien said some of the Kenyory members are working toward creating an anthology of short stories, while an offshoot of the group provides a meeting time where they can have peers review their work and be given editing suggestions.
Some participants also run other workshops throughout the year. However, members are not allowed to work on these projects during group time, he said.
“That’s all separate,” Dearien said. “For members who don’t want to participate (in those projects), that’s not part of the group itself. If they just want to come and write, be around people, maybe not even talk to them, then that’s there.”
Kenyorys come to meetings with laptops, tablets, notebooks and a variety of other writing tools and sources of inspiration. They write for an hour or two at a time, encouraging each other when they need it, as well as helping each other brainstorm character ideas.
“I like sharing my work with other people in the group and brainstorming with people about what they’re working on,” Dearien said. “If they’re interested and motivated in telling a better story, then that’s fun.”
The group’s next meeting is scheduled for 10 a.m. Oct. 27 at Cafe Artista. It will be the last meeting before they begin preparing for November’s National Novel Writing Month.
For more information, visit the Kenyory Writing Group’s Facebook page.