Montly Social Writing Share Meetup ! [Santa Cruz]

Join us for monthly in-person social writing sessions!
For the social butterfly writers, this may scratch your itch to just hang out with other writers and talk shop rather than actually write.

In April, we'll be checking out the open mic night at Mission West bar in Santa Cruz, where you may get the chance to read something aloud or sing a song either to our small group or to the whole bar. We will cheer you on either way! If public speaking is not your thing, you're also welcome to just cheer on those brave enough to step up to the mic.

You're encouraged to bring a few pages with you, aiming for 5-10 minutes of reading. If there are many people who'd like to read, we'll split into small groups for listening and feedback. See guidelines below.

This is a new event which may settle into a different time or place. Check the event page on Meetup each month for up-to-date information — and please RSVP so others can tell that there will be people there!

Feel free to leave a comment for feedback, even if you can’t join us this time, or if you are interested in future in person writing sessions — especially mid-week, late afternoon events.

This will be loosely structure with 30 minutes to check in and order drinks or food and chat, followed by a round of voluntary reading aloud for 1 hour. Depending on how the evening goes, we may partake 10 minute fun writing games, too. Some of us may stay later to hang out and enjoy live music or open mics, depending on the venue.

If it's a Thursday, you may be able to get home in time to join the 6:30pm Tele-Story event on Zoom if you like, where you can hear inspiring readings by four of our members, perhaps including you, and life-giving feedback.

Guidelines for sharing and giving feedback are below:

1. Before you read, indicate what level of feedback you would like from the group. Suggested options are:

• The Good - people will only tell you what they liked and what was good about your work.
• The Bad (compliment sandwich) - people will give you a compliment on your writing and tell you something they liked about it, but also give you constructive criticism.
• The Ugly - you would like your work ripped apart and only want to focus on the things that could be improved or don’t work.

2. Confidentiality- There are many memoir writers in the group, and even in fiction writing people often draw on true experience, so sharing can be a personal and vulnerable exercise.

• If you are sharing a true experience, consider anonymizing the other characters (especially considering Santa Cruz is a fairly small town!) to protect everyone’s privacy in general.
• If you see someone outside of the context of the writing group, refrain from mentioning potentially personal experiences they might have shared in their writing. General safe topics are ok, like travel experiences, etc., but more personal topics (addiction, grief, illness) shouldn’t be brought up unless the person who shared it brings it up first. Use common sense!

3. Feedback format: Following the Tele-story format, we'll have a "lightening round", where everyone has the option to give one minute of feedback, with extended discussion at the discretion of the author.
4. Feedback tips - focus on what you liked and what could make it even better, rather than what "didn't work". Also, focus on the content or story more than phrasing. Other things to think about:

• Is there too much dialogue, too little?
• Too much description, not enough?
• Unlikeable characters?
• Slow moving plot?
• Inconsistencies in plot or characters? Plot holes? Confusing parts?
• Suggested changes in phrasing are helpful but not the main focus.

Lastly, for those who are interested in sharing their work more in the wider world, we've compiled a list of open mic nights around Santa Cruz. These may be some of the places we'll hit up in the coming months. Please let us know if you have one to add or if there needs to be a correction made. Also, come to the group and let us know if you'll be reading so we can come cheer you on!

Open Mic places (for reading your poetry or writing):

1. Satori Art Space (1st & 3rd Tues at 7pm)
2. Second Saturday of every month at Center for Spiritual Living (CSL) on Felt St. (off of 17th) at 6:30pm?
3. Kava Bar every Monday (more music, but reading is allowed)
4. The Abby - ask if poetry
5. Ugly Mug -
6. 11th Hour - Wednesday at 7pm.