The Writer Babes
a sanctuary for your heart and soul
Welcome beloved Writer Babes.
I’m so glad you’re interested in finding out about The Writer Babes community test run.
You’ll find the scoops on the community as it will be launched, and you’ll find all the scoops about the hows/whys, and my requests for participants in the test run.
At any time, if you have a question, drop me a note, I’m happy to answer.
NOTE: If you want to see The Writer Babes info page in full — the way it’s out there for the public now — you can check it out here (it will open in a separate window), but be sure to come back here, cause the deets on what we’ll be doing in the trial can only be found on this page.
Come back to yourself …
In a world that seems designed to make women doubt ourselves, apologize for taking up space, and become enslaved to diet and beauty culture, it’s no wonder so many of us feel like we’ve lost our compass.
Or wonder if we ever had one.
But you do. You did.
It’s just that, because of all these expectations and pressures we’ve internalized, it takes attention and self-compassion to unravel this tangle and learn how to tap into our internal GPS again.
Here are the specifics of what’ll be on offer …
Two 70 minute monthly calls where we’ll write from prompts, and share our writing as per our usual Writer Babe gatherings. I’m going to test a post-write together 15-20 minutes so we can just hang out and chat like the olden days of in-person workshops. (For those who never did the in-person, you might enjoy this hang-time …)
Two co-writing sessions monthly: I’m thinking this will be a rotating day/time where we’ll spend an hour virtually hanging out and working out stuff on the page. I’ll offer prompts if people want it, but we won’t be sharing and witnessing.
One open-house each month where you can drop in for support on issues that come up in your writing. You can ask me anything, get a pep-talk, get a personal prompt, maybe even some mini-coaching. Or we can just hang out and chat with one another like we used to during coffee/tea breaks at the in-person Writer Babes.
A monthly straight-to-your-in-box communiqué: I’ll share prompts, challenges, inspiration, and encouragement to keep you writing..
Special offers on future online programs, and other extras … Writer Babes will get discounts or bonuses on future programming. (If we ever get to see each other in person again, that’ll include retreats.) There won’t be any extras during the test-month, but you can find out more what those will be here.
So that’s the scoop.
Remember, if you want to check out the public Writer Babes page, you can go here.
This probably sounds pretty familiar to you if you were part of the virtual Writer Babe membership community at any time in the past. (Or if you were part of any of my former programs like Unwritten, or the original iteration of Write Your Way Free.)
But there are definitely changes, and they are:
Women won’t have to take an intro course in order to participate. They WILL have to watch a short ”initiation”/introduction video that spells out the guidelines of the group, and details of the witnessing method. They’ll also have to e-sign a document that says they understand and agree to those guidelines.
As I mentioned above, we’ll also have special offerings including occasional mini-themed writes, workshops, and special guests who will share stories, prompts, insight, encouragement, and stuff like that.
Members will get discounts on all other programming including upcoming virtual deep-dive courses, virtual retreats, smaller group writes, and — when we are able to do them again — in person retreats.
Discounts on Writer Babe swag. Some of you may already have some Writer Babe swag — the mug, the tote bag, the post-its, the journal – but if you don’t, you’ll be able to get them at a nice deep discount. And if you already have all the existing schwag? Guess what? There will be more. (Squee!)
I think the biggest change is that there won’t be a Facebook component. I get that this is a big change. Some people may love hearing that; some may not. While I still pop in on FB from time to time because I belong to some communities that don’t congregate anywhere else, FB’s “free” service comes at too large a cost for me to keep living with (eg: the way FB handles - or doesn’t handle - misinformation, hate-speech, and conspiracy theory groups). And with feedback I got from some of my long-time Writer Babes when I surveyed you a while back, I realized that the online hub was not essential. If, after a while, it seems that peeps really want a place to chat outside the calls, it will be an “extra”, and not an essential aspect of the membership.
The membership will be $25/month (the same price as the founding member price from the original iteration of the virtual Babes, and close to 40% less than the in-person 3 hour groups that I used to host in my home). My hope is that this pricing will encourage more and more women to get involved - and stay involved. $25 felt like no-brainer pricing to me, and I hope the rest of the world will think so too.
Note: I may wind up offering this as a 3-month subscription (to make things a bit easier on the back-end), but will definitely offer small discounts or bonuses for annual, and 6 month memberships. I’m still simmering with how much that will be.
However, for my test-peeps, if you decide you want to join soon after we wrap up the test month, you’ll have the opportunity to sign up for lifetime membership – for the cost of just a little more than a standard year’s membership.
NOTE: That fee can be paid in one go, or can be broken up into 4 installments as far apart as 8 months, and there will be no additional cost for paying in installments. If you decide you want to hang out, but don’t want to go for the lifetime membership, that’s totally cool. No presh. With the monthly membership, you can come in whenever, and leave whenever.
FREE TRIAL DEETS
Here’s what you’re in for if you join me for the trial …
You’ll get all the Writer Babe features listed above. except…
… I won’t have special guests lined up for our test months, and the new swag won’t be available for purchase yet. (If you don’t stick around for paid membership, I’ll still give you a discount on swag for your first purchase as a thank you.)
What I would like from you:
PARTICIPATION
What that means:
Naturally, I would love to have you on ALL of the write-together calls, office hours, and cowriting sessions, but since I’ll be having them at a variety of times, I know that’s unlikely. Still, I’d request that you to make every possible effort to join in on two or more of them. (The more, the better.)
NOTE: For this test run, participants will be invited to participate in a scheduling “vote” to help to pin down best possible dates/times. (This won’t be the case in the public Writer Babes.)
I will be asking you to pop on the phone with me to give me some feedback as we near the end. It won’t be anything extensive – just a couple of questions where you can let me know what’s working, what is clunky, and what, if anything, you think might make it work better.
I will also be happy to meet with you on the phone to chat through those questions if it’s easier for you.
So … does this sound like something you’d be up for?
Are you in?
If so, drop a line here and tell me (yay!). I expect to be sending out sign-up details in a week or so, and I plan to run the test starting mid-late March.
If you have any questions you’d like to get clarification on before you say yes, pop on over here and ask.
