Hang Out & Write – Mission Hill

This writing group helps you meet your weekly writing goals by providing a structured time and place to write. We welcome all genres and styles, from fantasy to poetry to simply doing homework. We focus on putting words on the page, but many of us also come to chat about writing.

Agenda:

11:00 - Get settled

11:15 - Tiny icebreaker

11:30 - Write and Chat

1:00 - Feel accomplished

Location: The Tavern of Tales in Mission Hill. It's a board game bar and cafe. Ask the servers to point you over to the writers group. We're generally in the private rooms.

*This rarely happens, but if the Tavern is unexpectedly closed, please wait by the door until 11:15am for the rest of us to show up. We'll decide together where to go and leave a note for those coming after us.

Price: The tavern requires a $10 minimum purchase of food and drink (before tax, tip, and discounts). In exchange, we often get access to free private rooms and are usually allowed to linger until 2pm.

Mass Transit and Parking: We’re right on the Orange Line! Plus, easy access to the 66 bus and the Southwest Corridor bike trail. Parking is free on Tremont St outside. Also try Smith St, Pontiac St, and Parker St.

RSVP: RSVP if you want to be informed of cancellations or changes. Most of our regulars don't RSVP and get the news from our Discord instead.

Will I fit in? Generally, about 20 people show up each week, with about 2-6 new people each time. Our 3 tables seat 8 people each, and this results in a good mix of new people and regulars. Each table has its own personality, but generally, we tend to be quiet and curious. About half of us are fantasy/sci-fi writers, while the other half write in diverse genres like non-fiction, historical fiction, memoir, etc. I usually recommend attending for 3 weeks in a row, as this seems to be the magic number for making friends here.

Do you do critiques? Yes and no. We find that critiques are better when done by people we know, for people we know. So longtime members will often swap work with each other.

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RULES

We have people from a wealth of different backgrounds, some with different neurodivergences. These rules are so we all can have fun:

1. Be a good listener. Plenty of people come here to work, so quiet talking is fine, but talking loudly and constantly is not fine. We enjoy debates, but please be mindful that debates are supposed to be friendly and fun.

2. No ulterior motives. Please don’t treat us as a captive audience for your poetry reading, book selling, or podcast pushing. It’s fine if these come up in casual conversation, but there’s a big difference between chatting about your work and trying to sell us a product.

3. Give the other customers privacy. This is a board game bar, so there will be other customers playing card games, board games, and role-playing games. Please don't interrupt them or watch them like it's a spectator sport.

*I can, have, and will ban people for violating the rules or engaging in behavior that I hadn't thought needed a rule. I'm sorry, but for this, I cannot take into account people's different backgrounds and neurodivergences. Making other members extremely uncomfortable is always an insta-ban.