Many people write poetry, short stories, and novels in hopes of expressing thoughts, feelings, and ideas. Developing someone’s ability to write could lead to a career in publishing, journalism, or teaching.

A five-day Summer Creative Writing Camp for local high school students has been in planning for over a year and will finally begin Monday.

At the camp, students will be writing two short stories, several poems, and participating in exercises for starting a novel.

Students will also receive individual guidance from Letitia Moffitt, a professor of creative writing, literature and composition in Eastern’s English department.

This camp could be helpful because “poetry and creative writing doesn’t get much attention in high school,” said John Martone, camp administrator and professor of English at Eastern.

Eight students are currently signed up for the camp, which costs $95.

Moffitt will be instructing most of the sessions, but Martone will teach the concrete poetry class.

Moffitt has been teaching at Eastern for two years and has published a few books of poetry, but her focus is in short fiction.

“This is for people who love to write, for students who might need a push towards different ideas of things they’ve never thought of,” Moffitt said.

There will be two monetary scholarships offered from the Coles County Arts Council, Martone said. At the end of the camp, a book will be made of the students’ writings and a public reading will be held.

Martone and Moffitt would both like to see this camp continue in future years and Martone also mentioned an idea of opening it up to college students.

This is a fun outlet in the summer for “the development of creative writing in the community,” Moffitt said.

Ashlei Maltman can be reached at 581-7942 or at anmaltman@eiu.edu.