Monday, February 9 to Sunday, February 15. Your weekly line-up of events, activities, and deadlines for writers who crave inspiration, motivation, accountability, and the support of community.
Feb 09, 2026
Highlights
The Shift: Journaling for Metamorphosis is open for registration! Apologies for the delay - life got lifey (read: mildly traumatic). But all is good and the need to dive into my journal to deal with some very difficult things to steady myself and move through hard emotions reminded me that the kind of journaling I have learned and developed for myself over the years has a very, very big lifelong value. Everything you need to know about my new journaling course is coming your way this week (still need to do the website page). Sneak a peek at the basics further down in this newsletter and grab your $200 discount (annual subscribers only). Online, 7:30-9:00pm Wednesdays (PST), February 18-May 6
MEANWHILE, you can check out my workshop style before you commit by joining 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
Flash Lit February is going strong! The first three 2026 were Safety net, An unguarded moment, and To the rescue. The next one drops at 12:01am Tuesday, Feb 10. You could wait until the next edition of The Week Ahead for prompt #4, or you could ask for it in the comments or pop into our Facebook group To Live & Write to get it on the day. Every prompt comes with a 500-word limit, a 3-day deadline, and the freedom to write in any genre. Feel like writing something fresh? Come play with us! New members welcome (membership is free).
The Monday Write In is going through the change. And by the change I mean we’re meeting earlier in the day. Bring your own hot flash - I usually do (and I’m not alone in this). Same place, different time. Noon-2:00pm. Just like same body, different WTF IS THIS. Just like it. But with writing.
The roster is full for Imagine March: Storied Stories - and full of a bunch of rather excellent writers and storytellers! While they get started on their rough drafts, you get to save the date for event night on your calendar: 6:30pm Thursday, March 12 at Books, Inc., Alameda. Free (but we will encourage you to buy something to support the store)
Would you like to join us for the next retreat? The first retreat of the year (last weekend) was wildly successful.Write in Wine Country is coming up soon: April 24-26. Options include one day, two days, or three days writing with us in a lovely house in Sonoma County, CA. Come in for the day and go home or to a nearby hotel to sleep (and unpeople for a few hours). $249 pays for Saturday or Sunday and includes Friday’s wine tasting, afternoon writing session, dinner table discussion, and Proof of Write. $459 pays for the whole thing. Meals not included, but there will be snacks.
SAME AGAIN THIS WEEK because it’s that important: Your only job while I’m directing grandkiddo camp 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 week. 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! And 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.
Comment to request membership in RSVP text thread*
2. Elevenses
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*
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
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
The Shift: Journaling for Metamorphosis
7:30-9:00pm Wednesdays (PST), February 18 - April 6
This 12-week course in journaling promises you can change or modify the way you feel about yourself, the people in your life, and the challenges life throws at you.
Learn journaling skills to build your confidence, discover your strengths, and celebrate who you are, and develop a new understanding of yourself and your value that no one can take away.
Together, we’ll work on ways to balance negative self-talk with a new, authentic voice of self-respect and empowerment that you can tune into whenever and wherever you need to for the rest of your life.
So … it’s 12 weeks designed to teach you how to manage and direct your own metamorphosis - and how to navigate change you did not ask for - by using different journaling techniques and life coach wisdom for your growth and development. Plus bi-weekly 1:1 sessions with the coach (hey! that’s me).
The Subscriber Pilot Price is exclusive to annual subscribers of this newsletter, The Week Ahead.
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!
Oh hey, hi. It’s just me, Mowgli, providing the visual for one of the Flash Lit February prompts: An unguarded moment. Apparently, my modeling career is on fire - thanks to Facebook and Insta and all the other social media places she has on the modern equivalent of speed dial. I wanted to complain about being taken advantage of, but she pointed out this photo could also be used for a future prompt along the lines of Food Coma Due to Salmon, Food Coma Due to Sardines, or Post Hynotic Tuna Eating Trance.
This cat is cool with the status quo in this house.
*Text threads are for women and female-identifying writers.
**Paid subscribers receive exclusiveinvitations to Top SecretWrite Alongs and their in-person counterparts, the Top Secret Write Ins.
