Hidden away in a backroom of the Gilroy Public Library, South
Valley’s aspiring Hemingways and Austens, Faulkners and Christies
gather to converse about the magical craft of setting words on
paper.
Hidden away in a backroom of the Gilroy Public Library, South Valley’s aspiring Hemingways and Austens, Faulkners and Christies gather to converse about the magical craft of setting words on paper.
Every third Saturday of the month, members of the Gilroy Writers Project come from Hollister, Morgan Hill and garlic’s own capital city to learn from guest-speaking authors how to improve their prose and poetry.
The group recently celebrated its first-year anniversary with an inspiring discussion with Carmen Richardson Rutlen, the author of “Dancing Naked … in Fuzzy Red Slippers.” Before starting her talk, Rutlen actually placed on her feet a pair of fuzzy red slippers. Please note: despite her book’s title, she did keep her clothes on and performed absolutely no dancing. (This isn’t that kind of writing group.)
The group had a laugh-riot listening to her read selections from her book. Matilda Butler and husband Bill Paisley were impressed by Rutlen’s talk that afternoon. The Gilroy couple attended a meeting after seeing a notice on the library bulletin board. They’ve been regulars ever since.
“I welcome the opportunity to participate in an environment where we hear authors talk about the process of writing and their experiences in publishing,” Butler said. “Writing is hard and often lonely work. The Gilroy Writers Project is first of all a support group. We also gain insights into the craft of writing by sharing our experiences in fiction, nonfiction and poetry.”
Butler, a retired Stanford professor, says the group helps her on her latest book project. Titled “When ’60 Turns 60: Portfolios of Women’s Lives,” it examines the lives of women who graduated from high school in 1960.
Paisley, also retired from Stanford, is currently drafting “Things People Know,” a nonfiction work exploring the issue of cognitive competence. He said it challenges the elitist point of view of books on knowledge and intelligence such as best-sellers “Cultural Literacy” and “The Bell Curve.”
“Once published, I intend to update ‘Things People Know’ into the workbook of a seminar series,” he said. “I think the Gilroy Writers Project will be an ideal forum for me to receive feedback about this book in the near future.”
The writing group was born a year ago when Los Gatos author Betty Auchard visited Gilroy’s Wize Owl Bookstore to read from and sign her inspirational book “Chocolate for the Teen’s Soul.”
The subject of authoring books came up, prompting a suggestion to form a local writing group. After that afternoon’s book-signing, Auchard met with Gilroy librarian Dennise Julia and Natalia Vanni, a 12-year-old student at Monte Vista Christian School in Watsonville, to discuss the proposed group.
“We were talking and having fun and had a whole bunch of ideas and it just kinda started from there,” Vanni remembers. Vanni said she likes to write poems, particularly “about anything for fun.” The writing group she co-founded gives her focus in honing her poetic craft.
“It helps me to figure out what to write about,” she said. “It inspires me.”
Auchard, a retired art teacher from San Jose’s Leland High School, said she enjoys traveling to South Valley from her home in Los Gatos every month to meet with members.
“I like the group so much. I just love these people,” she said. “They keep my juices flowing.”
Auchard started her writing career after her husband Denny Auchard died a few years ago. On scraps of paper, she wrote off and on during her lonely days – jotting down thoughts as a form of grief therapy.
“I was journaling on junk,” she said of the process. “Getting it down – expressing your emotions – was important.”
Over time, those scrap-paper scribblings turned into touching personal stories and essays. Big-time book editors at publisher Simon and Schuster were so impressed by Auchard’s inspirational stories, they included four in anthologies for women and teenagers. With the buzz of seeing her printed words in bookstores across the nation, Auchard found herself hooked on writing.
In April, Stephens Press will publish her poignantly humorous memoir of life after her husband Denny’s death. It’s titled “Dancing in My Nightgown: The Rhythms of Widowhood.”
“It’s about my self-discovery after becoming a widow,” she describes her latest work. “The premise of the book is that life doesn’t have to end after losing a partner.”
At each group meeting, Auchard serves as the spirited cheerleader of burgeoning writers who range from teenagers to senior citizens. Their literary interests range from nonfiction to poetry, romances to murder mysteries. She creates an enthusiasm for the written word that’s contagious.
“I’m not a jaded writer,” she insists. “I started too late to ever get jaded.”
Another member of the Gilroy Writers Project who discovered his writing talents later in life is Ruben Dozal, Jr. The Hollister resident has a most amazing story to tell. He grew up in the town of Brawley in California’s Imperial Valley. At age 8, Dozal entered the work world to help support his family. His days were spent mowing lawns, painting fences and performing other such chores. When he married, he moved to Hollister in 1968 to raise a family.
In 1998 at the age of 49, with several grandkids now in his life, he decided to finally learn how to read.
“My education stopped long ago,” he explains about his desire for literacy. “I was reading far below a sixth-grade level when I got tested. I didn’t understand the words and how to use them correctly.”
After beginning his reading program, he mastered words so fast that the next year he began typing out personal “little vignettes” on the computer. Since then, he’s put together five books of self-published stories and poems.
“I write just what I feel in the day,” he said of his creativity. “I call ’em stories. The people who are more educated than I am, they call me a poet. They say I write in prose. They tell me I am an author. I guess I fall in between there someplace.”
In between his work time as a maintenance supervisor at Pacific Interlock – a paving stone manufacturer in Hollister – Dozal has cranked out about 3,000 poems and stories. He creates them for his own satisfaction and to entertain his kids and seven grandchildren. San Jose Mercury News columnist Joe Rodriguez recently praised Dozal’s writing in that newspaper’s opinion pages.
At the Gilroy Writers Project meeting last Saturday, Dozal read outloud one of his personal tales. The words vividly painted a tender picture of the man’s life and struggles growing up. The group applauded enthusiastically. They told the man he had a promising literary talent.
The advice he gives fellow writers: “I encourage them first to write what they feel, not necessarily focus on the rules of the book. Write what they feel first, and then edit it later and make it better.”
With the Gilroy Writers Project, Dozal has found a support group that gives him inspiration. He and his fellow members know the wonderful secret. Magic awaits hidden in every written word.
Gilroy Writers Project
Meets every third Saturday of the month (usually at 2pm)
Gilroy Public Library: 7387 Rosanna St., Gilroy
For more info call Dennise Julia at (408) 842-8208 ext. 3413.
