“Stories you read when you’re the right age never quite leave you. You may forget who wrote them or what the story was called. Sometimes you’ll forget precisely what happened. But if a story touches you, it will stay with you, haunting the places in your mind that you rarely ever visit.”
~Neil Gaiman~
Dear Women Who Write!
We are finally emerging from this pandemic, at about the same time as the 17-year cicadas, but with a lot less noise. It might be too early to digest the lessons learned. But we encourage all of you to write your memories, for posterity if not for publication.
We at Women Who Write are planning our reemergence into the world. Yes, we will meet in person again soon. And a Hopscotch House retreat is in the works for late summer.
Our summer meetings will feature a guest speaker, as well as our peer commentary and discussion of the writing life. In June, we will meet on Zoom.
On June 8th, our guest is novelist Lynn Slaughter, who will read from her book Leisha’s Song, to be released on June 22. After her reading,Lynn will answer our questions about her writing and publication processes.
Lynn serves as the President of Derby Rotten Scoundrels, the Ohio River Valley chapter of Sisters in Crime. She enjoyed a long career as a professional dancer and dance educator, earning her MFA in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University in 2016. She writes coming-of-age romantic mysteries and is the author of It Should Have Been You, a Silver Falchion finalist; While I Danced, an EPIC finalist; and Leisha’s Song (Fire and Ice). Her short story, “Missed Cue,” appears in Malice Domestic’s 2020 anthology, Murder Most Theatrical. She lives in Kentucky where she’s at work on her next novel, Deadly Setup.
We look forward to welcoming Lynn on Tuesday June 8 in our Zoom room.
Members, please invite guests who might enjoy listening to Lynn, including those young adults in your world!
A writing prompt for you!
We all remember (or try to forget) something about our own coming-of-age days, when we spent so much time worrying—about personal relationships and identity and belonging. What else is there?
Here is your “assignment”— Write flash prose (750 words or less) or a poem. Here are a few themes that might awaken your youthful muse!
Feeling like a misfit
Unrequited love
A power struggle
Getting in with the “wrong crowd.”
We’d love for you to share your writing prompts during the second half of our meeting.
If you have trouble signing in, please text 502-417-3424
Submit writing for peer commentary at our Zoom meeting
As usual, we need volunteers to share prose and/or poetry (no mor than 4 pages double-spaced for prose, and up to 3 poems). Since we have a guest for the first half of our meeting, we’ll accept three pieces, rather than the usual five. Please forward your manuscript to by Monday at 9 PM. We will screen-share your work so you can read it aloud while the group members follow.
We try to comment on each piece’s strengths and opportunities for revision or development with five questions in mind—
How would you describe the writer’s voice?
Does the writing flow smoothly?
Is there an arc to the story or poem?
What is the main point?
What can the writer do to finish the piece?
Submit for our blog— Submit short fiction, nonfiction, and poetry for our blog (less than 1,300 words of prose). Send us something about your writing life, or life in general. Please pitch a blog idea or paste your writing in an e-mail to Help us provide content and encouragement to writers.
Resources for Writers
Here is an excellent website by the Council of Literary Presses and Magazines (CLMP) that posts an ongoing list of magazines/journals, allowing the writer to filter by genre.
Check out The Manifest Station: On Being Human literary blog. Submit poetry, essay, fiction, art, and photography. Submissions are open continuously.
Check out “The Best Writing Contests of 2021,” published by the Reedsy blog. Reedsy is a company that educates, guides, connects, and promotes indie authors. Read about the contests here.
And a fabulous resource for writers who love to read is Lit Hub.
We want to support your writing life!
Here are ways you can support our writing community!
Become a member (or re-member)—As a community, WWW strives to nurture your writing life. We hope you choose to join or renew as a member and participate in our monthly meetings, author talks, retreats, and workshops. Please share your ideas for future programming! You can attend two meetings as a non-member, before joining for $50. Students 18 and older enrolled in school can become members for $25.
Like our Facebook Page—@womenwhowriteky. Like our Facebook page (and linger awhile to take advantage of the posted content).
Join the leadership team—We need a social network coordinator for Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, etc. If you have questions specific to these positions, please email us from this website.
We look forward to seeing you on Zoom on June 8 beginning 6:30 PM. With questions about the meeting, emai.
Be safe. Be strong. Be peace.
Love your writing life!
The leadership team— Kimberly, Pam, Melony & Alisa
On June 8
