Chapter launch recap + virtual retreat reminder

Great readings and meaningful connections at our first event!

Thank you to everyone who came out to the inaugural event for the DC-Maryland-Virginia chapter of Scribente Maternum on October 5, 2024 at Arlington Central Library.

We had a terrific reading followed by an honest and insightful conversation.

Many thanks to Tyrese Coleman, Hannah Grieco, Kate Lewis, Chloe Yelena Miller, and V Efua Prince for reading their powerful work. It was also great to hear from everyone who came out and shared what they were working on and/or struggling with in their writing life. Sharing experiences is inspiring and comforting!

As your host for this first event, I (Jessica Claire Haney) enjoyed the opportunity to connect with other writer-moms! I hope we can expand the community and get together again for future events. We may try for winter and summer virtual readings and spring and fall in-person readings. Anyone who wants to help organize those or to arrange other kinds of meet-ups, please let me know!

Huge thanks to Chloe Yelena Miller for many of the photos above!

If you couldn’t make it to the event or you want the PDF version of the handout—filled with links to DC-area writing resources and events and mom-writing resources— please comment or email me at haneyjessicaclaire (at) gmail (dot) com to request the PDF.

Virtual Retreat this November!

I first learned of Scribente Maternum just over a year ago when I learned about their retreat in the Pacific Northwest. It was amazing! This year’s in-person retreat in Minneapolis is sold out, but you can still register for the November 7-9 Scribente Maternum virtual retreat!

It’s just $97 or free for Maryland writers, thanks to the National Endowment for the Arts.

Programming on Friday, November 8 & Saturday, November 9 runs 10:00 am -1:30 pm and 3:00-5:30 pm ET (times on the website are CT)

See the Scribente Maternum website for the full agenda and to register, but here’s a quick look:

• Friday 11/8 includes welcome/intention-setting/group intros, somatic activity and writing workshop with Sun Yung Shin, time with small groups, and a writing workshop with Dara Beevas

• Saturday 11/9 includes opening yoga movement and centering with 612 Jungle, Writing workshop with Kate Hopper, time with small groups, and an experiential art & writing outing at/from the Minneapolis Institute of Art, facilitated by Rachel Berg Scherer​

In the fall of 2025, the retreat will likely return to the home of its first in-person experience: Baltimore, Maryland. Stay tuned for more info on that and on any events Scribente Maternum might organize during the AWP conference in March 2025 in California.

If you can’t swing AWP this year, stay tuned for the Fake AWP events that featured reader Chloe Yelena Miller and her Brown Bag Lit partner Shasta Grant will organize!

I hope we can keep up the conversation and continue to share resources and support one another’s work! Please spread the word and point any writer-moms you know to this Substack so they can hear about future events and opportunities.