Hi Friends!
May is for Mother’s Day and Mental Health Awareness — coincidence? We’re not sure but this month we’re digging into mothers and mess and everyone’s invited!
In April, we opened some channels and events to the public and we liked that so much we’re doing it again. Not an official member yet? No problem. Just use this invite link to access…
✨Public!✨ Guided Writing Studio
Cozy groups are led through fast, form-oriented prompts to get you shaking off the mental cobwebs and writing new pieces. All levels welcome.
✨Public!✨ Craft Masterclass: Unmothering: Myth and Mess and Hauntings
Join this deep dive into writing “mothers” — of all sorts — and unravel the tropes and wounds that shape their portrayals. Leave with new work!
✨Public!✨ Firelight Readaround
Come share your work in our online community readings and make some writing friends. All genres welcome. If you wrote about mom, invite her! (Or don’t.)
And, finally, big news — enrollment is open for this summer’s…
MFA-style Writing Workshops: 4 Sundays in July
Hate staying silent while your work gets critiqued? We take the MFA model and make it collaborative: share your work and concerns to get the roundtable feedback that matters to you. Led by editors. Nonmembers welcome too. Currently prose only. Enroll now to claim your spot!
We still have members-only benefits and channels of course, so if you like what we do just…
Programming is hosted in our Discord. All times US Eastern.
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✨ PUBLIC EVENTS ✨
Craft Masterclass: “Unmothering: Myth and Mess and Hauntings”
Arguably no other figure in literature is more fraught and complicated than The Mother; I mean, we think it's no coincidence that Mother's Day overlaps with Mental Health Awareness Month (cough). Editor Autumn will lead a deep dive into writing “mothers” (however we define them) as we dissect the tropes and stereotypes that shape and flatten maternal figures in fiction, and the lived experiences that propel us to write them. We’ll explore how narratives of devotion or neglect, absence or inheritance, gratitude or grief can be rendered with more complexity and specificity, leading to sharper, fresher portrayals of family on the page. While prose-focused, this masterclass welcomes writers of all genres — and all relationships to the idea of “motherhood.”
✨ Open to the public!✨
Sunday, May 24 8-9PM ET
Guided Writing Studio
Fun generative sessions to shake off the mental cobwebs and start some new pieces. Invite your friends! All levels of writer welcome.
✨ Open to the public!✨
Morning session: Tue, May 12 9-10AM ET
Evening session: Wed, May 13 8-9PM ET
Firelight Readaround
Share your work with our warm supportive community! Whether it’s a messy draft or published piece — we’re here for it all. Does it involve moms this month? Even better.
✨ Open to the public!✨
Sun, May 31 8-9PM ET
OUR CORE PROGRAMMING
Accountability Sessions
Write with other members online! No excuses. No distractions. For Basic, Sassy, and Fancy members.
Drop-in Coaching
Fridays: 1-2PM ET
Sundays: 6-7PM ET
Progress Studios
Mondays: 1-2 PM ET
Mentored Milestones Check-in
Join our Mentored Milestones Monthly Check-In to transform those sprawling abstract goals into actionable items.
• Map out goals in our Milestones Journals.
• Leave with scheduled items in your Action Steps Tracker.
• For weekly check-ins, Sassy and Fancy members can attend Progress Studios.
• Or work asynchronously at your own pace.
Fri, May 1 7-8PM ET
COMMUNITY NEWS
David Elliot Eistenstat has a poem in pictura journal!
Neah Ziana Mendoza has a micro in Fatal Flaw!
Samantha Borek has her DEBUT (!!) creative publication in the Bruised Knees and Gardenias anthology!
Suvajeet Duttagupta has a story in this Flametree anthology!
And Eleanor Ball is seeking 4-10K words through May 15 for the long prose anthology she’s co-editing: Way Downstream!
PRECAP
And looking ahead, rumors abound that author and playwright Nina McConigley will be joining us for a craft chat soon… 👀
OK that’s it! See you around✌️