At the end of every summer break, as I resurface from the chaos of the summer childcare lacuna and total lack of routine, I like to take stock of how I’m showing up in the world. Perhaps it’s the recovering academic in me that loves to treat the beginning of the fall term as a new year mark—a time to revise, reevaluate, re-routine, and admittedly, indulge in a little capitalist consumption of new notebooks and office supplies.
This week also marks 5 years of running this newsletter. Over the years, I’ve adjusted our community offerings to grow with the times and the ever-shifting oddities of this platform. We’ve done Zoom events, live conversations, threads, prompts, reading groups, and more. I suppose I’m always on the hunt for the perfect way to connect every reader and writer here.
Right now, it feels like what we all need more than anything is time to create and to connect—that is, time to imagine and create a better world than the hellscape we’re living in, together. In this age of rising generative AI usage, antifeminist backlash, increasing isolation, and declining reading practices, to me there is nothing more important than cultivating connection and creativity, and I want everyone who reads this newsletter to have the time and space to do just that.
Write Like a Madwoman (or a Mad Woman) sessions are a space to write and to connect with other feminist writers. Sessions will be held on Zoom every Friday 12pm-1pm PT/ 3pm-4pm ET. At the beginning of each session, I will offer some creative inspiration in the form of a loose prompt, concept, or book/essay passage. Then we will co-write together furiously, angrily, passionately, lovingly, irrationally, and ungovernably.
This is a space you can drop into whether you are already writing consistently or not, and a source of inspiration and support for anyone trying to make art in the current antifeminist climate. Those working on sustained projects like books or essays are welcome to write according to their own agenda in community, and those who do not consider themselves writers in the traditional sense are also more than welcome in this space. You certainly do not need to be working on any sort of sustained creative/capitalist product to benefit from a regular writing practice!
If you’ve been to one of our virtual retreats before, these sessions will be very similar to the cowriting sessions we’ve done before, just more regular.
We will reserve the last 15 minutes of each session for discussion and connection (and venting as needed!). You are welcome to attend any of these sessions with your camera off as well, if that’s what you need to show up. Every week, we will remind each other why our stories and our voices matter, and encourage each other to keep going.
Join us for our first Write Like a Madwoman session Friday August 7 at 12pm PT/ 3pm ET. This offering is for paid subscribers of the newsletter only, so upgrade your subscription today to join us. Right now, annual subscriptions are 25% off.
Paid subscribers can find the Zoom information for these sessions below. I will also send out a reminder through our newsletter chat on the morning of each session.
I would love to hear from all of you about what you want to see more/less of this fall and beyond—essays you’d like to read, conversations with authors you’d like to see me host, and/or other community features. Drop your ideas in the comments below.
Comments
Nothing yet. Say the first thing.
Sign in to join the conversation.