NOTE: This is a version of the press release sent to various online and print newspapers, blogs, etc...

UTAH, UNITED STATES—A small writers group in North Sanpete County, Utah has built an international membership.

With a bit of rebranding, The North Sanpete Writers Group—now Word Addicts—has gone online, gathering thousands of followers and an international membership.

Word Addicts began in 2015 as a small group of like-minded friends in Fountain Green, Utah—population 1,100—and now features bloggers and membership from all over the world.

President Jenna Madsen of Chester, Utah, has presided over the group's growth since January 2021. "Our online and social media presence has grown over the past couple years," she said, "and with that, exciting things are in store for 2022. We are really hoping to continue this trend and start working on reaching even more writers and collecting even more stories to publish."

This expansion is still relatively new for the group. In early 2020, before the COVID 19 pandemic began, the group held its first meeting of the New Year at the Fountain Green General Store and voted on a name change, officially becoming Word Addicts. Their goal was to begin building an online presence. But the onset of the pandemic made them review their goals and expand them.

After the COVID 19 pandemic began, during their first online group meeting in April 2020 they voted on some expansion plans. Within months, the group put up a website and blog, and expanded their social media presence. Their local community continues to meet monthly in Fountain Green. The online community writes for the Word Addicts blog and the anthology.

James Mitchell, a founding member of Word Addicts, now serves as the local group secretary and manages the online presence. "This has been a huge learning curve. We're gathering writers and putting content out there. With the growth, we're reorganizing all the time to make online spaces for all our writers."

Word Addicts works a little differently from other writing groups. There are no dues or fees. Writers get involved in exchange for free advertising and experience. "We're all volunteers," Mitchell said. "Bloggers offer their work, and Word Addicts pays them by advertising their books, websites, blogs, and their other online presences across all our social media platforms and email subscribers."

The group releases an annual anthology. Their current project, Miscellany: Volume II, is their fourth book. Their volumes are group projects, in which all the writers take active roles in publishing. The group gives writers of varying levels of experience the opportunity write. Some featured writers are award-winning and bestselling authors; Others are writing their first published work. Each story goes through several rounds of edits, giving writers a feel for the rigors of writing a good story. "Come to the anthology prepared to do some hard work," Mitchell said, "and you'll be amazed at what you write."

Word Addicts is open to new members, whether they're local to Sanpete County or want to be involved from a distance. To learn more about Word Addicts, visit www.wordaddicts.org