Central Indiana Writers’ Association, a not-for-profit organization founded in 1976, is a community of novelists, poets, and essayists writing in all genres. We come together once a month and provide our members with a host of different activities and support. Everyone is welcome!
And while CIWA encourages every writer to continue writing, we do not support any form of pornography, erotica, or BDSM writing. There are writing groups for those genres elsewhere.
Attention: the new email for Central Indiana Writers’ Association is centralindianawriters1976@gmail.com
Central Indiana Writers’ Association Zoom Meeting – June 15, 2026
7:00-8:30 P.M.(EST)
Creating Your Writing Community
“While solitude is an inevitable part of the writing journey, communities can provide accountability, inspiration, and tremendous growth.” ~Ginelle Testa
With Speaker Barbara Shoup
“Writing is a lonely pursuit. It can feel frustrating, discouraging, impossible, and exhilarating. Nobody but other writers get what it’s like.
Which is why, whether it’s a few friends who get together regularly to talk about writing or a network of dozens or more writers, we can all benefit from creating a community of like minds. This talk will consider the many kinds of communities available to writers and how to tailor-make one that will provide the measure of support and challenge you need.”
—Barbara Shoup
| Meet Barbara Shoup… |
| Barbara Shoup is the author of nine novels for adults and young adults, most recently An American Tune, About Grace, and a memoir, A Commotion in Your Heart. She is the co-author of Novel Ideas: Contemporary Authors Share the Creative Process and Story Matters. Her short fiction, poetry, essays, and interviews have appeared in numerous small magazines, as well as in The Writer and The New York Times travel section. Shoup is the recipient of numerous grants from the Indiana Arts Commission, two creative renewal grants from the Arts Council of Indianapolis, the 2006 PEN Phyllis Reynolds Naylor Working Writer Fellowship, and the 2012 Eugene and Marilyn Glick Regional Indiana Author Award. Her young adult novels, Wish You Were Here and Stranded in Harmony, were selected as American Library Association Best Books for Young Adults. Vermeer’s Daughter was a School Library Journal Best Adult Book for Young Adults. Barbara Shoup graduated from Indiana University in Bloomington with a bachelor’s degree in elementary education and a master’s degree in secondary education. She taught creative writing to high school students for more than twenty years. Currently, she is the Writer-in-Residence at the Indiana Writers Center and a creative writing faculty member of Art Workshop International in Assisi. She hosts the Substack newsletter Book Pilgrim. |
Come ZOOM with us!
Join CIWA Zoom Meeting
http://www.barbarashoup.com/books.html
Join Meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86128008249?pwd=f5oa8Md5IVIVeBVTBEtW4loIU5FRR2.1
Meeting on June, May 15, 2026
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86128008249?pwd=f5oa8Md5IVIVeBVTBEtW4loIU5FRR2.1
Meeting ID: 861 2800 8249
Passcode: 673008
Check out all the links on the Writing Tips and Writing Websites page.
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Meetings are held on the third Monday of the month, unless otherwise noted. Our meetings are virtual to accommodate our members throughout central Indiana, and in other states, too. We don’t want your location to keep you from joining us. Guests are always welcome too. We look forward to meeting you in Zoom!
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