Send It!

When: 2nd Saturday of the month, 2-4pm (upcoming dates: November 9th, December 14th)
Where: East Liberty Library (130 S. Whitfield Street) - Meeting Room 1

Update 10/27: Send It! will be going on hiatus after our December meeting. We plan to bring it back in mid-2025 with a slightly tweaked format and schedule. We'll update here with the new info once we've figured it out!

Send It! is a hybrid event. Folks who can't make the in-person meeting have the option to Zoom in using the link you'll find:

Send It! is a new kind of group for Pittsburgh-area writers and artists that's focused on the publication side of the craft. Once a month, we'll meet up to learn about and submit work to literary journals, presses, agents, grants, and other opportunities to build an audience or creative career. We'll also have resources available, like:

  • Open Calls - Curated list of places currently open for submission
  • This Submission Quick Guide Google Doc - With advice on how to find journals and presses to submit to, how to write cover letters, and other helpful info
  • Access to the paid version of Duotrope
  • Back issues of print literary journals

This isn't a critique group--the idea is to show up with work that's finished, polished, and ready to publish. It is absolutely open to people of all experience levels, though! Submitting work can be anxiety-inducing whether you're sending your first submission or seeking a publisher for your 5th novel, but support and encouragement from people who have been there, too, can be a big help.

Send It! is free and there's no registration required--just show up with your laptop and creative works that need a home, and spend some time with other writers and artists looking for the same thing! If you want to get a reminder of upcoming meetings, you can join the Send It Meetup group.

 

Feedback Open Mics

Our next Feedback Open Mic will be in early 2025

In the meantime, here's the flyer from our last event in September 2024 so you can see what it's all about. You can also check out some recordings from our first two Feedback Open Mics:

Open Mic 1 (June 3, 2024):

Open Mic 2 (September 23, 2024):

Past Events

Workshop Matchmaking:

Ebensburg Speed-Date Edition

  • Where: The Festival of Books in the Alleghenies (Veterans Park, Ebensburg, PA)
    • Matchmakers find people who will be compatible, and this event will do the same thing for writers! Workshop Matchmaking brings together people looking for writing partners, workshop groups, and beta readers to help them find new sources of constructive feedback.

    Here's how the event will work in this special Speed-Date Edition for the Festival of Books in the Alleghenies:

    1. Participants register by filling out the Registration Google Form or by filling out a paper registration form in-person at the festival.
    2. Participants come to the Writing Activity Tent at 3:30pm on 9/21 with a 1-2 page (under 500 words) sample of their writing to share
    3. The Scribble House team breaks participants into groups of 4-5 based on their responses to the questions on the form.
    4. Each participant gets a 10-minute slot to first share their work with the group (by reading it aloud, or by bringing copies to distribute if you'd rather) then hear the group's comments and thoughts in a "sample workshop". The goal of this is for everyone to get a sense for each other's writing style and feedback approach to assess who you might gel well with as a workshop or feedback partner.
    5. At the end of the event, participants exchange contact info with the people they want to potentially connect with for feedback in the future.

    Workshop Matchmaking

    Sunday, October 22nd 2023, 2:30-5pm

    Matchmakers find people who will be compatible, and this event will do the same thing for writers! Workshop Matchmaking brings together people looking for writing partners, workshop groups, and beta readers to help them find new sources of constructive feedback.

    It's free to take part, but you do have to pre-register (since we'll need to know some info about you to pair you up with like-minded writers!). Attendance is limited to 15 and registration is first-come first-serve. If slots fill up we'll open up a wait list and post info here on how to get on it.

    How's This Whole Thing Gonna Work?

    1. We'll split the attendees into groups of 3-6 people based on their responses to the registration survey (click here to see a preview of the questions).
    2. We'll send you info on the folks in your group, along with the works you'll be workshopping, by Wednesday, October 18th.
    3. The event on Sunday will start with a brief icebreaking with everyone together. Then, we'll split into groups to workshop the pieces one at a time. Every piece will get workshopped so that everyone can get a true sense of each other's workshop style and can identify the people who give the type of feedback they find helpful.
    4. After the workshopping, there will be some time to chat with the other attendees and exchange contact info with people you'd like to exchange work with in the future.

    Scribble House Lecture Series: Unconventional Adventures in Publication

    Saturday, May 25th 2023 at Bantha Tea Bar

    The Scribble House Lecture Series aims to bring together a diverse set of voices to share insights and advice on the a chosen topic. This will start with 10-15 minute talks from each presenter, followed by a curated Q&A, with a handout of helpful resources and info for attendees.

    For this first event, the topic is "Unconventional Adventures in Publication"--in other words, writers who are getting their words to readers in ways other than traditional book publishing. Featured speakers for this event will be:

    You can click the links above to find out more about the featured speakers. We're stoked to hear this variety of perspectives on the many ways to get words in front of readers!