GUIDELINES
Thank you for giving these guidelines your full attention.
(It’s easy just to skim…)
It is vital to review the ‘How to Give Helpful Feedback’ section below before posting or commenting on any writing in the Community.
You may also print these guidelines using the links below.
Community Guidelines
Be Kind & Supportive: All of us feel vulnerable when we share writing and personal stories, so thank you for always using kindness and compassion to fuel your comments. This does not mean that we only post the literary equivalent of happy faces {see Guidelines for Helpful Feedback below!}, but it does mean that we ask you to always consider the feelings of others before you post. Kindness includes sensitivity to and acceptance (or at least non-judgment) of personal life choices, faith, gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity.
Read and support one another as writers: While this is a supportive place for many people to share personal written stories, this should not be considered a therapeutic support group. The focus here is on the writing that comes from life, as opposed to on the life events that are being written about. Please keep all comments focussed strictly on the writing. (See below for more details.)
Content warning: If the story you are posting might be traumatic for others to read (ie. a scene of incest, rape, abuse), please post a "content warning" at the beginning of the post. If the scene you are describing was traumatic for you when you lived it, chances are it may be traumatic for someone else (who may have lived through something similar) to read. Think of it as the ‘jacket copy’ of your story, a synopsis that lets the reader decide whether or not they wish to engage.
Guidelines for Giving Genuinely Helpful Feedback
All feedback is not created equal!
Be Kind & Supportive: All of us feel vulnerable when we share writing and personal stories, so thank you for always using kindness and compassion to fuel your comments. This does not mean that we only post the literary equivalent of happy faces {see Guidelines for Helpful Feedback below!}, but it does mean that we ask you to always consider the feelings of others before you post. Kindness includes sensitivity to and acceptance (or at least non-judgment) of personal life choices, faith, gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity.
Read and support one another as writers: While this is a supportive place for many people to share personal written stories, this should not be considered a therapeutic support group. The focus here is on the writing that comes from life, as opposed to on the life events that are being written about. Please keep all comments focussed strictly on the writing. (See below for more details.)
Content warning: If the story you are posting might be traumatic for others to read (ie. a scene of incest, rape, abuse), please post a "content warning" at the beginning of the post. If the scene you are describing was traumatic for you when you lived it, chances are it may be traumatic for someone else (who may have lived through something similar) to read. Think of it as the ‘jacket copy’ of your story, a synopsis that lets the reader decide whether or not they wish to engage.
In short, The Inkwell is the space I've been dreaming of creating since the first group of writers finished Memoir Writing Ink in 2020 and said, “That was great, but how can I stay connected, keep writing, and finish what I’ve started?”
It's taken me a few years to figure out the specifics. ;)
Part of that meant figuring out how to create a space that would allow me to be one of the people writing! So, I look forward to having this become a collective creative endeavour and to joining you as a writer in this community.
Become a Founding Member.
Help Shape this Space.
At the moment, we are only opening The Inkwell to a limited number of Memoir Writing Ink alumni.
We are looking for people who are interested in being part of the development of the space in the form of a 3-month ‘beta test’.
There is a lot of ‘creative fuel’ already there for you to enjoy, but we are also interested in your thoughts, your ideas and suggestions for how we might create the kind of space and experience you would like to see and continue to be part of.
If you’d like to join me on this new literary adventure, please keep reading! You’ll find all the details below.
How to Give Genuinely Helpful Feedback
A rate you keep for life.
1
A voice in how it develops.
2
This is a ‘beta test’ of The Inkwell, rather than a formal launch. Which means your feedback is actually going to shape what The Inkwell becomes. What's working (or not). What you wish existed. The idea is to create this space with you.
First access, before anyone else.
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Joining The Inkwell now, in its infancy, means you pay a discounted ‘Founding Member’ rate that will never go up — even as The Inkwell grows, adds more resources, and (inevitably) costs more for everyone who joins after you.
You'll be inside before the doors officially open to the public — testing, exploring, telling us what to fix before it's live for everyone. Sort of like being invited into the carnival grounds before the doors open. :)
A special standing in the community.
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We are invited Founding Members to explore and test what we have so far — peer into cupboards, bang on the walls, test the taps — but you are also an important part of the origin story. The people who believed in it before it was in full flower.
Feed your creativity.
Be part of a beautiful community.
Blossom into the writer you wish to become.
Support This Project.
I am very excited about the potential for The Inkwell to become the kind of collective creative space that nourishes us all. And I would love to be one of the writers in this collective.
I’ve enjoyed envisioning and designing this space. I look forward to offering my ideas and skills and passions and live events and dance parties! But I also look forward, once the space is ‘off the ground’ to allowing other writers to step in and offer their talents and joys. And to return to the love that pulses behind it all: my own writing!
Behind the scenes, this space takes real people—other writers, editors, moderators, humans doing beautiful human work—to make The Inkwell the kind of place I’d love it to be: responsive, thoughtful, alive.
Every dollar that comes in beyond membership goes toward paying those people fairly for the work they do to hold this space open for you.
So if you are interested in supporting this project and you are in a position to make a donation toward its development, I would be extremely, extremely grateful.
Creativity ~ Authenticity ~ Beauty ~ Joy ~
Creativity ~ Authenticity ~ Beauty ~ Joy ~
Driven by curiosity and built on purpose, this is where bold thinking meets thoughtful execution. Let’s create something meaningful together.