Writers group serves as social time for all, therapy for one

Dressed in a green, plaid button-up shirt, 81-year-old Larry Michael’s stare from behind his wide-rimmed glasses is intense as he talks about his passion for writing.

His hands shake a bit, which proves difficult, but not impossible for a writer who always chooses a pencil over a keyboard.

He gets a friend to type up his stories, which he brings with him every Monday evening to the Vermillion Public Library for the weekly Vermillion Community Writers Group meetings.

The group, sponsored by the Vermillion Literary Project, is a collection of about four to six writers who come together to write short stories and discuss writing project ideas with one another.

For Michael, a former English professor who taught at USD in the 1960s, the group serves as a type of therapy — a way to remember both the good times and the bad times in his life.

“My wife had Alzheimer’s, in fact she had it for 15 years. I was able to keep her home,” he said. “She died two years ago and I was her primary caregiver for the last eight and a half years.”

For almost three of those eight years Michael documented what his wife did and what she said in 31 journals.

“I’ve read a lot of books (about Alzheimer’s), but I haven’t read any like this where I wrote down the exact words she said. The exact (words),” Michael said. “And then I would make a note, ‘she’s looking out the window,’ or, ‘she’s looking out the door,’ or, ‘she’s sitting in the recliner.’ ”

He’s now trying to turn those journals and other memories of his life into published stories.

“I’m simply attempting to write memoirs which could just as easily be called essays,” he said. “There’s some connection from one to the next, but not always.”

The writers group offers him a place to try out new ideas with his writing while meeting other people.

“It’s like playing the piano, which I do. It’s a great therapy,” he said. “You meet other people in this group who are likeminded.”

Leslie Claussen, a 27-year-old USD English graduate student, is the group organizer. She said the organization offers community members and students a chance to hone their writing, no matter the skill level.

One activity the group does is short story writing. Claussen gives the group a prompt, and members have 10 minutes to write before they come together to read and discuss their writing.

“We generally just talk about what it’s like to be a writer, some of the struggles and the joy of success when it happens,” she said.

The members come from a variety of local towns, including Vermillion, Yankton, Sioux Falls and Akron, Iowa. The youngest member is a high school student from Sioux Falls and Michael is the oldest.

“The idea of having community, especially in the group name itself, was to make it more appealing not just to students but to everyone in the community,” Claussen said.

Claussen said difficulties of leading the group include finding times for everyone to meet and making sure everyone has the same goals.

“Writers can be — it can be like herding cats,” she said. “It’s hard to get everyone on the same page.”

In the end, though, it’s worth it, Claussen said.

“It’s more about helping people with your constructive criticism and then hoping they take that feedback and produce something really awesome,” she said.