Hi Friends!
Spooky season is coming to an end, but at LMC we’re still facing our writerly fears.
Scared of applying to fancy residencies?
We’re hosting an event with 2 (!) residency directors to answer all your questions and share insider tips.Scared of not writing?
Say goodbye to NaNoWriMo! And hello to our monthlong November Write-More Challenge.Scared of writing humor with heart?
Join our craft talk with Meredith Talusan and EPOCH editor J.R. Lennon.Scared of membership fees?
Get Basic now for $15/month!🔥
Honestly? We had plans to just toss coupons at you like confetti, forever. But then we thought: Why? That’s so annoying. We’re building a community here, not selling used cars. So: Basic memberships are now just $15/month. That’s it. Same ol’ access to Basic programming including all our special events — just simpler. So if that sounds good…
All the below takes place in our members-only Discord server. All times US Eastern.
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or view as .PDF
🍁 SPECIAL EVENTS 🍁
Landing a Funded Residency: Chat + Q&A
Fancy residencies often feel out of reach. We compete with Bigtime Writers for limited spots and get little info on preparing our materials. We hear: "Send your best stuff" and "Only the writing sample matters." But the former is kind of obvious and the latter only partially true.
So how do we improve our chances?
On Sunday, Nov 23 5PM ET, we’ll chat with Jeff McMahon, Director of Operations at Willapa Bay AIR, and Justin Rigamonti, former Program Coordinator at the Carolyn Moore Writers House.
We’ll discuss what jurors look for, how to present ourselves better, and what it means to have a ‘brand’ or ‘vision.’ Leave more informed and empowered to apply, with tips that carry over to grants and fellowships too.
Kiss You Where it Hurts: Writing Heartbreak & Humor w/ Meredith Talusan
Want to break hearts while landing zingers like “adorkable but hotkward?” On Sunday, Nov 16 8PM ET, join our chat with the award-winning author Meredith Talusan and EPOCH editor J.R. Lennon as we discuss Meredith’s fizzingly witty, disarmingly tender short story “The Best Man.”
November Write-More Challenge
Miss NaNoWriMo but not the drama? Join our monthlong challenge led by Facilitator and Okay Donkey Associate Fiction Editor Heidi Marjamäki! Commit to November writing goals in our communal tracker and report progress daily. Yes, you heard me! Daily → Discipline → Done. This challenge is asynchronous so don’t worry about time zones. Just worry about hitting your goals.*
Live Writing Sprints
Commit to the November Write-More Challenge with competitive writing sprints! Led by Editor Autumn Watts.
Join the scrimmage on Wednesdays, Nov 5 & 19, 9PM ET
🍁 OUR CORE PROGRAMMING 🍁
Accountability Sessions
Write with other members online! No excuses. No distractions.
Process Groups
Mondays: 11AM-12PM ET
Drop-in Coaching
Fridays: 10AM-12PM ET
Sundays: 6-7PM ET
Guided Writing Studio
Before you binge on pie, tone up those writing muscles with some DISCIPLINE. On Wednesday, Nov 26 9PM ET, Editor Autumn Watts will kick our butts once again with a prompt-driven Guided Writing Studio. Pain + pie = 💖
Book Chat
In November, Hayden’s Ferry fiction editor Chiara Kaufman will guide us through a readalong of poet and novelist Olga Ravn’s futuristic workplace allegory, The Employees. Discussion starters posted Thursdays by 3PM ET.
And on Nov 6, 6PM ET, Chiara will host a live communal close-reading of The Employees’ 1st page(s). Come share your thoughts and dig deeper into how editors might read YOUR work.
Prompts
Posted by flash fiction superstar Kathy Fish on Nov 1 and 15.
Firelight Readaround
On Nov 30, 8PM ET, share your work with our warm supportive community and featured reader Meredith Talusan!
🍁 COMMUNITY NEWS 🍁
David Eliot Eisenstat has a sonnet “Dear Petrarch” in The Pierian!
Jessica Heron’s poem “Garden” in sage cigarettes magazine was nominated for Best of the Net 2026, and her split chap of poems and visual art has been published by Two Key Customs!
Kyla-Yến Huỳnh Giffin’s essay “Ngoại and the Coral Reef” in The Offing was nominated for Best of the Net 2026!
Editor Steve Chang will be a Fellow in residence at MASS MoCA and teaching a course at The Forever Workshop on different story types and revising for common problems. Want to level up your self-editing? Take the course! LMC members get 1 free month of The Forever Workshop. Link posted in Discord.
🍁 RECAP & PRECAP 🍁
In October, we asked our favorite fabulist Ben Loory how he writes stories that are both fun and profound and… the answers might surprise you. Here’s a teaser of his foolproof 6-step method.
Listen… we said it was a teaser OK
That discussion stays in #story-chat, so go catch up on what you’re missing.
Looking ahead, we hear rumors we’ll be hosting December events with award-winning author and screenwriter Elaine Hsieh Chou and another with a mystery guest: the Director of the most dreamy (and generous) residency every writer needs to know.
And!! We also hear that sign-ups for our MFA-style writing workshops are live and rolling. 🎉 Non-members welcome too.
More big plans are on the way, so Subscribe to stay in the loop. And see you in Discord!