There are a lot of great writers at this University. I know. I sort through some great poetry and fiction when judging for Exit 109. I see fresh ideas, great word choices, and intelligent metaphors. I also see clichés, lousy descriptions, and sentimentality written in the most sappy, cheesy fashion. There is a cure-all, or a cure-some-of-it. One of the best-kept secrets of this campus is ICSYHYAT, the Radford Writer's Group. This is a group for writers of all genres, styles, and ability.

Don't ask me where the name came from, you will have to talk to Roger Asbury about that. Obviously you know what ICSYHYAT stands for as I wrote it in the title. Redundancy is not a good thing in writing. Repetition can be. Learn the difference between the two!

The group, led this semester by Melissa Conner as president and myself as vice-president, meets every Thursday night at 7 p.m. in the penthouse of Madison Hall. For about twenty minutes or so we get acquainted with ourselves, which can be rather amusing.

Then we start to read aloud the works we have brought to read. You don't always have to bring something to read, you can just come to listen to other poems and pieces of fiction. There's rarely anything like academically-tuned essays, but everything is welcome.

After each piece is read aloud we dissect it. We point out what we like and what we think needs work. Sometimes this takes up to an hour. We think by association in this club, and great conversations spring up quickly.

The group tries to have a group function about every semester. A camping trip is tentatively planned for November, and next semester is up in the air. Whatever it is, I'm sure it will be a blast.

We're looking for members. I try not to use Whim for shameless self promotion, but I know there are some writers out there who need something like this to meet new people and to help their work grow. This is no substitute for the professional care the Writing Center can give you, but we think a more casual atmosphere is what a lot of students need.