Monday, February 2 to Sunday, February 8. Your weekly line-up of events, activities, and deadlines for writers who crave inspiration, motivation, accountability, and the support of community.
Feb 01, 2026
Highlights
Flash Lit February is here! The first bright, shiny prompt of 2026 made its appearance in To Live & Write this morning. Have you seen it? For those of you avoiding Facebook, prompt #1 is The Safety Net. You have three days to write up to 500 words in any genre - including poetry - publish it in a place you own (Substack, blog, Google Doc), and share the link (not the content) in the comments here or in To Live & Write. Deadline: Midnight, February 3. Click the button for more info about Flash Lit and how to play along with us.
Guess what else is back? Imagine March! Yay! This fun group project features individual writing within a group arrangement - meaning you write one scene and I connect it with individual scenes from the other writers to make a cohesive experience for the audience. Each scene is 800 words. There are rules to challenge your creativity and a lit night at the end of it to showcase everyone's work. You must live within driving distance of the San Francisco East Bay and be available to read to a live audience on Thursday, March 12. I will share the set-up and scene arrangement this week. If you're not on Facebook but you want to do Imagine March with us, you MUST comment here before midnight Tuesday, February 3 so I know to include you. Click the button for more info about Imagine March and other To Live & Write literary events.
Keep your eyes on your inbox this week! Everything you need to know about my new journaling course is coming your way. I’m just figuring out an appropriate pilot price before I open registration. Save the dates: February 18 - May 6. Online. Wednesday nights. What a great way to wrap up winter and move into spring and a fresh, new way to look at yourself, your familiy, your life, and your future. I can't wait!
Want to check out my workshop style before you commit? Join me Wednesday, February 11 forWhat the Heart Writes, an evening of wild writing designed to celebrate the way love shows up in friendship, family, and community. Online and live for two hours (7-9pm PST) with an optional third hour for those who want to stick around for a while. No limits - everyone is welcome. $25
If it's too hard to commit to 4 days away, try a 2-day retreat with us in Sonoma, CA. Write in Wine Country is all set for April 24-26. Come in early to write with us for a full day, stay for the dinner table discussion and Proof of Write. Spend the rest of the weekend at home or come back for more the next day — the choice is yours. $249 per day or $459 for the weekend. Free Friday wine tasting, afternoon writing, dinner table discussion, and Proof of Write when you book Saturday, Sunday, or both.
Your only job while I'm away is to show up for your writing in one or some of the following ways:
Make use of the first Flash Lit February prompt (dropped today)
Add words to your book, blog, journal, or whatever
Work on your outline and develop your plot
Play ice-breaker games with your MC to get to know them better
Go for a walk and day dream about what you're writing next
Doodle with colored pencils while you dream about your story
Investigate your schedule and plan your next three writing sessions
Go elbows deep into revisions and rewrites
Sign up for Imagine March (if you're in the San Francisco East Bay)
Read a book about writing and take notes when you're inspired
There are many different ways to engage with your writing this weekend. Pick one, pick two, pick all ten — just pick what fits with where you are in your process and have at it. You will feel so good about yourself when you do! I would love to know what you chose for yourself. Tell me all about it in the comments or text me if you have my number.
If you write for any reason, you are welcome in our community. We are all about support and encouragement. We see you. And we would love for you to join us. This is the link to the main community, where you can hang out, check us out, and move into engagement at your own pace, on your terms.
Hyper-local, super productive, 4-hour writing retreat
Wade into the holiday season with a solid writing practice grounded in a couple of Tiny Retreats — because you deserve time with your muse. Put it on the family calendar ASAP so everyone knows not to interrupt.
There’s nothing quite like quietly writing in the company of other writers, with someone else facilitating time and responsibility to really feed your creative need. Come delight yourself with what you can get done with us on a Saturday morning.
Gather with us at the beginning of the week at a cute coffee shop on the west end. We write in their quiet, shaded back patio in small groups of two and three.
Join our weekly in-person gathering to discuss writing, the writing life, and your WIP with people who know what you’re talking about, feel your pain, and delight in your success.
Tuesdays: 11:00am-1:00pm PST. Members only (membership is free)
Jump online to write in the company of other writers. Borrow their focus and flow, lose yourself in parallel play, and benefit from body doubling without having to leave your home. Join when you can, leave when you have to.
Tuesdays: 7:00-10:00pm PST. (I will keep the room open later on request)
Comment to request membership in RSVP text thread - women’s group
4. The Wednesday Write In
Start your day off with a hot cup of coffee and put some strong writing energy back into the middle of your week. Write Ins are in-person writing sessions where we gather to write quietly in each other's company.
The Top Secret Write Along is an online writing session where we gather to write quietly in each other’s company without having to leave the house.
Fridays: Private Paid Subscriber Perk!*
If you’re a paid subscriber, comment for membership in RSVP text thread
6. Proof of Write
Wrap up the weekend and kick off the week with positive feedback.
This online gathering is a safe place for writers to share up to 5 minutes of raw, rough, or polished work written the previous week. Every participant must give - and then sit still to receive - positive feedback.
Proof of Write
8pm on Zoom Sundays (meeting ID provided with RSVP text or email)
Free for members. (Membership is free)
Subject to core member availability; minimum 4 writers*
hosted by Bronwyn or the next available core member
Zoom ID provided on request
Comment to request membership in RSVP text thread
In keeping with the spirit and intentions of providing a safe space for writers from all walks of life writing about all kinds of life experiences through imagined fiction and recounted reality, I have made two modifications to the original Proof of Write protocols:
Content warnings are expected from every single writer in attendance, regardless of whether they are considered necessary. This practice has the benefit of inviting the writer to consider message, theme, and presentation of even the most benign ideas and story lines to the potential reader. The more the writer knows about their work, the more readily they can tempt others to read it.
If a writer is uncomfortable sharing deeply personal or provocative work in mixed company, an arrangement can be made ahead of time to move them and members they are comfortable sharing with into a breakout room for their reading, with understanding and acceptance from everyone present.
Paid subscriber perk! This is your chance to listen to how your words land in a reader’s mind and mouth, where the text flows, where it stumbles, whether your voice and tone hit the way you wanted, and more.
You and a handful of other writers show up, each with 800 words of a book, a blog, or a short story that has already been edited (original work only). You throw your work in the pile. We go around the room taking turns picking up what someone else has thrown down and reading it out loud for everyone to enjoy.
Why do we do it? It’s one thing to read your own work in your head. It’s another thing to read it out loud, when you know what’s coming and you can control emphasis, nuance, and flow. It’s quite another thing to hear someone else read it out loud when they have no idea what’s coming up on the page.
This exercise is 75%** learning about how your words land with your readers and 25%** learning how to get comfortable reading out loud to a live audience.
Write in Wine Country - Wine tasting on Friday for the early birds and a lovely, big house with plenty of comfortable writing situations for the weekend. This retreat is for day-trippers who want to sleep at home or a nearby hotel. Wine tasting, Friday afternoon writing, and Friday evening activities are available for no additional cost to writers who register for a full Saturday or Sunday. April 24-26. $249/day or $459 for the weekend.
Labs & Workshops
Journaling
Working on a title for this:
If you could take a course in journaling that changes or modifies the way you feel about yourself, the people in your life, and the challenges life throws at you, what would you call it and how soon would you sign up?
(February 18-May 6)
What the Heart Writes
Wednesday, February 11
An evening of wild writing designed to celebrate the way love shows up in friendship, family, and community. Online and live for two hours (7-9pm PST) with an optional third hour for those who want to stick around for a while. No limits - everyone is welcome. $25
Inspiration, Motivation, & Accountability!
For writing tips and habit hacks from your friendly neighborhood writing + creativity coach (hey! that’s me!), sneak peeks at what’s going on in my workshops, examples of my own writing, and exclusive invitations to secret writing situations, consider a paid subscription.
Gratuitous Kitty Shot!
Another trip? How long for this time? This is so annoying! Who said this could happen? Ugh. Fine. Another weekend alternating between sun puddle, the pink office chair, and the pink blanket. Things could be worse. Where that cap ball again?
*Paid subscribers receive exclusiveinvitations to Top SecretWrite Alongs and their in-person counterparts, the Top Secret Write Ins.
