On April 24, Creative Writing Club members, Amelia Ortega (12) and Teresa Martinez (9) were awarded at Fresno State at the Fresno State’s Young Writers’ Conference.
Teresa Martinez, a freshman, won the Facet Award for her short story called “Pure Joy (Or Nothing at All)” and Amelia Ortega, a senior, won the MFA Award for her work of prose titled “Choking on Guilt.”
The Creative Writing Club is a club on campus where students who enjoy writing can go to a safe place to creatively write together, share their work, and also gain feedback from each other to better their writing skills.
The trip to Fresno State for the conference alone was a great opportunity for students to get experience on all of the different writing aspects and perspectives and get a feel for the college area and setting.
Debbie Teixeira, the club advisor, stated, “We take writing classes with the graduate students in the Creative Writing program.” With this experience with the college students and all their work, the students from LBHS can open their eyes and minds to possibly majoring in creative writing if they are passionate about that and pursuing it as a career.
Martinez said she was inspired to write her winning piece from a one word prompt from her writing club which was “War.” She said, “I also wanted to try a certain dynamic between two characters; where they hate and contrast each other, yet they find twisted comfort in each other’s presence.”
Ortega said she was inspired to write her piece from the guilt she felt when she saw someone she grew up with become someone different than she expected and she felt wrong for wishing they were one way and felt hurt by her own inability to move on from this “ideal” version of them but in the end accepted them for who they are and continues to have a positive relationship with them.
Martinez said other genres she likes to write about include fantasy with a sense of realism and adventure with horror mixed in. She also said she has been writing since she was 10 years old, that she was always an avid reader so she made that her hobby.
Ortega said, “I mostly write gothic depictions of the grotesque, but I also write children’s books for fun, and silly poems, but my favorite format of writing is novels.”
Martinez also stated, “My future goals would be to complete smaller works and maybe even get closer to finishing the bigger ones. I’m unsure about the specifics, but taking my writing into a career would be one of my main ambitions for the next couple of years.”
Ortega said, “I would love a career that had to do with writing, and I’d love to write in more books but I’m actually planning to be a nurse and will be going to college for it this fall.”
Teixeria said to students who are looking into or thinking about joining the club, “If you love writing, come join us! It is a safe place to share your work and get feedback.”
