Despite the name of the club, Writers Anonymous is not known to actually be anonymous. The club was started in 1984 by both the journalism and english departments. It is now run by English teacher Scott McCloud.

“There wasn’t ever a creative writing class here in the English department and many students are interested in creative writing. The reason we started was to create a literary magazine called ‘Connections.’ It was part of the journalism department so the english department and the journalism department came together,” McCloud said.

The magazine has since ended its publishing days, but students still continue to actively write and publish their works.

“The goal is for students to get their work published on a site called ‘Teen Ink’ which is a large site for academic creative writing. So my goal is to keep pushing students to publish on that site and give feedback,” McCloud said.

Senior Miranda Steiner is currently in Writers Anonymous. She writes poetry, memoirs and short stories.

“Mr. McCloud has taught me a lot of different ways to attack certain writing styles so a lot actually gets done when I go in there and sit with him during the club,” Steiner said.

They meet once a month during first clubs, but McCloud also encourages students to attend or speak at open mic nights out of school.

“There’s an open mic every month at Kidron Bethel and there’s an open mic usually once every two months at Norms. Anybody in the community can get up and talk,” McCloud said.

Steiner says she likes to attend open mics but has not read at any yet. In addition to open mics, students join the club to meet new people and express their ideas.

“I joined the club because I wrote on my own, and I figured I’d try to get out of the box more and try and make friends that enjoy the same thing as I do,” Steiner said.

Anyone can join Writers Anonymous to share their works and receive feedback. The next open mic in Newton will be held Nov. 1 at Norm’s Coffee Bar.