The rain outside trickled down the windows of Howes House in West Tisbury last Tuesday morning as Jeanne Hewett began reading a piece written by fellow Howes House writer Charles Blank, who could not attend the event. The story included images of playtime for a little boy, with games of war and pirates using twigs and branches as weapons.

“What is it about males that they always played war?” asked Brigitta Lent at the end of the reading. “Even a gentle soul like Charles?”

“Girls didn’t,” Ms. Hewett answered. “They didn’t go ‘pfft’ with cars and planes, making them attack.”

“But all the parents talked about was war, I guess,” Ed Housman offered.

The banter continued as the group discussed several other pieces from the writers’ group recently published in the Martha’s Vineyard Writers’ Journal: Collected Works of the Howes House Writers. Howes House is also known as the Up-Island Council on Aging and most of the contributors are retirees, both from the Island and washing ashore from points all over.

For the event on Tuesday, a celebration of the journal and the first public reading from it, the Howes House Writers had invited the Howes House Conversation Group to listen in on their readings and give feedback. Both groups meet at the same time on Tuesdays but in different rooms and therefore do not get to be together regularly.

Most of stories led to reminiscing, some inspiring laughter, others quiet contemplation.

The emotions and discussions conjured up by each story is exactly the purpose of the Howes House Writers group, said Ellie Bates, the editor of the journal.

“We get together to celebrate creativity and encourage each other, and what sometimes primes the pump of a good story is just conversation,” she said.

Isaac Russell, Peter Dryer and Jerry Muskin listen. — Katie Ruppel

The writers’ group has been meeting every Tuesday morning for over 20 years, coming together to inspire, support and critique each other’s writing. The group had not published anything since 2007, so Ms. Bates submitted a grant application to the Martha’s Vineyard Cultural Council, which was then approved.

While not the main goal of the group, getting published is still special for most writers, said member Ann Lees.

“I think you write because it’s in you and you want to express something, but once it’s all done, it’s like a painting, you want somebody, besides yourself, to appreciate it,” she said.

The pieces in the journal range from memories of childhood swings and friends to poems about colors and eggshells to letters telling someone, somewhere, “I’m sorry.”

What links this group of people together is their love of writing, for otherwise they are as diverse as their stories.

Ms. Lees, a retired research physician, started writing poetry in high school; then her life travelled in a different direction. It is only in the last 20 years, after retiring, that she took it up again.

Similarly, Jo Scotford Rice, a former art teacher and therapist, has been writing ever since she can remember.

“Since I was ten years old I’ve been writing every night for half an hour, every night of my life,” she said. “Sometimes it turns into comics, or drawings or sketches, but every night.”

Former teacher Sally Williams has also been writing for a significant amount of time, but it hasn’t always been enjoyable like it is now.

“I have a PhD and there was a lot of writing for that, but I didn’t really like it,” Ms. Williams said.

With the help of the group, she’s found her niche again.

“I like the companionship,” she said. “I like to write, and I need somebody to listen.”

Ed Housman, a retired software engineer, said that when he came to Martha’s Vineyard he wasn’t sure he was capable of being a creative writer. With a journalism degree, Mr. Housman had stuck mostly to covering events and meetings.

“When I came to the Island and got accepted by the group, I started writing fantasy and humorous stories,” he said.

“Actually,” quipped Ms. Lees, “you didn’t get accepted by the group, you accepted the group.”

The Howes House Writers are quite comfortable with one another, as they would be seeing as they bare a tiny piece of their souls to each other each week with their readings, Ms. Bates said.

“We are showcasing a little bit of ourselves,” she said. “It takes courage to put yourself out there.”

Towards the end of the event, Ms. Rice cleared her throat to read her story entitled Breasts, although the piece had very little to do with breasts and much more to do with a lovely presence in her life, her Aunt Ethel.

Ms. Rice stumbled over a few words, stopping halfway through to let the group know that, “this is a little harder than it looks.”

But at the end of her reading, her words lifted into a quaint song about comets and the universe, bravely and flawlessly sung with the vibrato of a vinyl record from the 1940s. It was a song that her Aunt Ethel used to sing to her, about a little girl dreaming of stars and suns and moons.

The silence afterwards was broken by Ms. Lent who asked, “Did she make up the song?”

“Well that’s what we’re trying to figure out,” Ms. Rice said. “She lived in the country in Ohio and didn’t go past the eighth grade, but no one else knew that song. So I just don’t know.”

“Maybe she had a boyfriend we didn’t know about who was literally inclined,” said Ms. Lent.

“Maybe,” said Jerry Muskin with a smile, “she was in a writing group.”