How We Met

Manahil Bandukwala

Sharing your writing can be the most terrifying experience ever.

The Eighteen Eleven Collective came out of weekly meetings as the Emerging Writer’s Circle at Carleton University. We met every week and shared stories and poems, watching the sun set over the Rideau Canal from the window on the 18th floor.

Somewhere along the way, we fell into a comfortable excitement of surprise Timbits and matching outfits. Sharing your writing – the emotions that you pour onto a page – can be incredibly vulnerable, but a group of supportive and enthusiastic writers makes it something to look forward to.

We know characters like Seren and Dominick, or Helen and Mouse, or Jester, Mute, and Oracle as though they are our friends. Weeks filled with joy of someone bringing in a continuation of a story, or evolving a weekly prompt into a longer piece.

We could be termed a rag-tag group of people who just fell together, but really, we’re a group of writers connected by a shared love of writing.

People graduate and move away. But when you’ve shared the intimacy of your own writing, falling back into a group is easy.