July with Women Who Write
Monthly day retreats, What's On Write Now is back, and other events coming up this month
Hello writers,
We’re back with another round-up of all things Women Who Write!
This month, we’ve got all our regular free events, plus *drumroll, please* another By the Beach Writing Retreat! We’re delighted to announce that our much-loved day retreat is now monthly, allowing you more time and space to get your words on the page. We know it’s sometimes been difficult to get tickets, so we hope that a more regular schedule means more of you can join us down by the sea in (sometimes sunny) Portobello. This month’s retreat is on the 20th, with tickets going on sale at 6pm on the 6th. See you by the beach!
Plus, we’ve brought back What’s On Write Now from our May newsletter, a space for you to tell our wonderful community all about the writing you’re sending into the world and the events you’re hosting. Read on to find out more!
Last, before we dive into the schedule this month, we wanted to give you a heads up that we’re planning to run our normal schedule of events through August and the festival season. We’ll be here as your refuge from the chaos – a space to tuck yourself away and work on your project. Of course, with packed public transport, heaving streets and more chance of North Bridge shedding its scaffolding this summer than getting phone signal in the centre, plans may go awry! Look out for our events email in a month’s time for confirmation of times and venues, and keep an eye on our socials @womenwhowriteedinburgh and WhatsApp, linked here, for any last-minute changes.
JULY EVENTS
7th July and 21st July: Monday Night Write in the library
Join us in the gorgeous library at B+B hotel on Rothesay Terrace. This is an informal evening with gentle, quiet writing sessions and time to get to know each other. We provide writing prompts for those feeling creatively challenged; however, feel free to bring your own work, whether on a laptop or notebook.
You can arrive at 6:30pm and we finish around 9pm. There’s a bar downstairs to get drinks: please do support the venue and grab one!
You can just turn up, but it helps us if you let us know you’re coming by replying to the email or commenting, so we can get the right number of chairs out!
11th July: Rise and Write
Join the early morning crowd for coffee and writing company! We’ll be meeting at 7am at Cairngorm Coffee in New Town. This is a free event but ticketed due to limited space. You can get your free ticket on Eventbrite here.
20th July: By the Beach Writing Retreat at Tribe Porty
Tickets available 6th July at 6pm: follow us on Eventbrite to be notified when they go live
By the Beach is our ever-popular day retreat at Tribe Porty in Portobello, with writing sprints and plenty of tea, coffee and chats to get to know your fellow writers. It’s perfect if you need a long stretch of focused productivity to move the needle on your goal!
You can join from 9:30am to get settled in, before we dive into running writing sprints until 4:30pm. You can expect friendly faces, time to focus on your writing, an optional beach walk, and nice extras like fruity ice water and snacks.
Tickets will go live on the 6th July at 6pm: make sure you hit the button below to follow our Eventbrite page to be the first to hear when they go live. You can follow our Instagram and WhatsApp for announcements, too.
23rd July: Late Night Write at Everyman Cinema
Join the night owls for some chilled late-night writing in Everyman Cinema Bar, 8pm until 10pm! There’s moody lighting, cocktails, fries, and friends. Just turn up! We are usually upstairs or along the far wall downstairs: just look for the group with laptops.
WHAT’S ON WRITE NOW
Back in May, we soft-launched a new addition to our monthly Substack: What’s On Write Now, a space for you to advertise your new writing releases and literary events to our readership.
Well, we’re bringing it back as a regular section, so we want to hear what you’re up to! To do this, we’ve created a Google Form for you to submit your features to us, whether you’ve got a pre-order campaign running, a new Substack launching, a Fringe show on, a spot in a zine, or an open mic you’re hosting. We take a broad view of what counts as writing and as literary, and you don’t need to be published or working professionally. If you’re ready to share something, we want to know about it!
There are a few submission guidelines, which you can find at the top of the form here.
Celebrate the launch of the Shadows on the Stage anthology
Join independent Scottish publisher Forest Publications tomorrow, July 2nd, for the launch of their Shadows on the Stage anthology:
We see performance in art, on the stage, and on the screen, but what about the performance we see every day? From the masks we wear to work, to our expressions of gender and identity. Within the realms of sci-fi, fantasy, and horror, the tales and poems in this collection celebrate and explore the theme of performance.
You’re invited to an evening of live performances of poetry and prose to celebrate the release. Tickets are free for general entry or £5 if you would like to reserve a seat and receive a voucher to go towards purchasing a copy of the anthology.
Time: 6:30pm
Where: Voodoo Rooms, West Register Street
Tickets: Available on Eventbrite
(And for those of you who joined us for the Rage Against the Page panel back in May, you’ll know the wonderful Nadine, one of the forces behind Forest and all the wonderful writing they help send out into the world!)
Pay-What-You-Can editing services from Ruby Allen-Cadman
Author and editor Ruby Allen-Cadman is relaunching her popular Pay-What-You-Can editorial services and consultation scheme as a social enterprise on the 18th July, and she needs your help! If you would like to use and/or support the scheme, or provide input in any way, you can sign up for potential-user surveys and other call-to-action events and updates ahead of launch here.
Ruby is an absolute pillar at our events, and we hope you’ll be able to support her venture, whether as a fellow freelancer or an author looking to work with her.
And that’s a wrap!
Keep the words flowing, writers, but be kind to yourself if they don’t,
Dominique, Abbie, Kadie, & Lauren
The Women Who Write Team
For those who are new to our group:
Welcome to Women Who Write Edinburgh. We’re an inclusive group of women and non-binary people who meet regularly in Edinburgh to write. We welcome writers who identify as women or non-binary, who put words on the page, or who want to. You can join our meet-ups whether you write fiction, poetry, newsletters, reviews of niche fan-fiction, recipes, weather reports, romantasy, journal entries, essays, sci-fi short stories, comedy, drama scripts, zines, research papers, restaurant reviews, emails to friends, texts to family, messages to potential meet-cutes on Tinder, or something else entirely. Whatever it is, and however you write, you’re welcome to join us.
Our aim is to create the space and the time for you to write, as well as opportunities to meet other women and NB writers in our community.
If you have any feedback on any of our events, suggestions for future events, venue recommendations or anything else, please get in touch. We want to hear from you. We run events we think our writers want and need, and hearing feedback is how we make our community even better
Do read our Code of Conduct.