DeScribe is Deakin University Burwood's writing group, where you can contact, meet, talk, swap, workshop and publish.

Last year, Jo Scicluna from Deakin and Gary Smith from Holmesglen hosted an open mic night at the Great Britain Hotel in Richmond. About thirty students from both campuses read their own flash fiction. It was a good night, and most everyone there told us they enjoyed it.

We asked ourselves, so why can't we do this on a more permanent basis? Long story short, here we are. We plan to host a couple of these open mic sessions a semester.

But it goes deeper than that. Writing is overwhelmingly a solitary task, but the business of writing benefits from group contact. You need people to workshop your writing, to inform you of competitions and opportunities and let you in on the toolbox of little secrets any writer develops. Deakin doesn't seem to have much cohesion in this regard. Beyond the little cliques at Einstein's, not much interaction seems to take place.

DeScribe is a place where people interested in writing can discuss writing. We want people who are willing to step up and post interesting, relevant material (and perhaps become moderators and administrators down the line). It's you first and second year students who'll be dealing with this mess next year. I'll be sipping Mojitos in a sanitorium in Tijuana, thank you for asking.

The people forming DeScribe are students just like you, but we are also responsible for Deakin's literary journal, Verandah, which means later this semester we're going to be busier than a longtailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs. If you want your hand held, it's probably a good time to let you know we don't have time to hold it for you. If, on the other hand (ahem) you want to get involved in Deakin's newest club, form workshop groups, improve your writing, make contacts in the industry or even help run the damn thing, then cheers