The Mineola League of the Arts has just introduced a new opportunity for the community: the Writer’s Guild.

Residents of Mineola will probably be aware of the several writer’s groups that have come and gone in the past few years, but new MLOTA Writer’s Guild coordinator Crystal Moore is bringing other “like-minded artists” together to make this guild work.

“Everybody seems to be interested in a new guild,” she said. “I feel like there’s been people that have been very excited about it, and I’m excited that they’re excited!”

The writer’s guild, like Moore, is easygoing and flexible. It’s made up of 8-10 regular members, as well as those who drop by or join for a time. While many of the authors in the group are poets, other genres are also well-represented in the group.

“We’re just going with the flow; and that’s the point,” she said. “I just want to be a guild, or a place, that any writer in the community can pop in and decide they want to participate to learn what comes next, or just come in for the creative writing exercises if that’s all they want to do.”

The guild was just made official over the summer, according to Moore. It came about when Moore, who was the MLOTA office manager at the time, realized that the League had many writers without having a writer’s guild.

“The more I talked to people, the more writers I realized we actually had.” she said. “And so, I just think (this new guild) is a great way for like-minded artists to be together.”

In fact, Moore herself is a new author, whose book “A Cold Winter’s Edge” will be available on Kindle and Amazon on Nov. 1.

For the short amount of time that the Writer’s Guild has been official, they’ve gotten a lot done: aside from already holding regular meetings, formulating a group of regulars and having creative workshops, the new Writer’s Guild is already beginning to plan big activities.

One of these is a Writer’s Retreat, which Moore says will hopefully be held next summer or fall. She is doing research, brainstorming and group feedback on the project, but says that the event may be a Friday and Saturday event with classes, workshops, tables for authors to do book signings and more. 

“People need to realize: writing is a form of art,” she said. “So I just think that (the new guild) is very helpful for the League itself to just keep growing and expanding its different art forms.”

Group meetings for the Writer’s Guild are held on the first Tuesday of every month at 1 p.m. Anyone who is interested in being a part of the writer’s guild is welcome to come watch one session; after that, joining the Writer’s Guild is as easy as joining the Mineola League of the Arts. Give the League a call for any questions.