Hello writers! We hope you’re all having a great time celebrating pride month! While KanMoWriCo isn’t specifically a queer writing group, we’re run by queer folks and strive every day to make our writing space inclusive for all.

We have a lot of fun things on the horizon, so let’s jump into it!

Spring Sprint

If you were able to join us for Spring Sprint, congrats on finishing it! This year we explored short fiction through an array of different prompts and challenges. We were aiming for a more accessible, chill complement to the November Program, and we hope you liked it! If you participated and haven’t filled out the feedback form, it’s not too late! Please click here to do so.

KanMoWriCo Census

This is our once-a-year push to get data on our writers. We want to know what levels you write at, what genres, and where you’re hailing from in the metro– or beyond! The census also acts as an interest check for various plans we have going on in the background, so if you want a say in what KanMoWriCo does next, fill out this survey by July 31st! The survey will take you about 15-20 minutes to complete.

We know surveys like this can feel corporate and intimidating, so we made every single question on here optional. Want to keep your writing goals under lock and key? That’s fine by us. We just need to know what our writers are looking forward to and where to focus our efforts. 

KanMoWriCo, Inc.

Why are we collecting all that data, you may ask? Well! We’re incorporating KanMoWriCo as a nonprofit! This move enables us to provide more resources to our writers as well as more formally accept donations, have a bank account, and make sure we stay accountable to our writers. We’re very excited to take this next step as a group, and we need your help!

First, if any of you know a lawyer who would be willing to chat with us for a free or reduced rate, please send them our way! We are pretty good at crossing our t’s and dotting our i’s but we want to have someone who does this for a living look over our incorporation paperwork. If you have any leads, let us know!

Secondly, incorporating is expensive. To file our tax forms with the IRS we need about $650. This is a one time expense, and not something we can just take out of our bank account now. We still need money to throw the November program as well as a whole host of cool stuff we have on the way, so we’re doing a summertime madness fundraising drive!

This summer, we want to raise $500! You can contribute on our ko-fi.

This isn’t the total cost of incorporation, but it will enable us to set aside a large amount while still improving our offering. For example, you’ll be able to catch us later this year at the Joco Library Writer’s Conference, running a critique matchup in a few months, and hosting new and exciting events during November!

Call For Artists

Long time writers with us will remember our mascot, Chance the Raptor, inaugurated in 2018. Chance was chosen in reference to our online culture at the time, in the former ChatNaNo chatrooms, where raptors were a big feature. (IYKYK.) Today, Chance lives in Montana.

In recognition of our new path as our own organization, we are developing a new mascot. This mascot will honor our community and, above all, our commitment to the bit. Like KanMoWriCo community members, this mascot has strong social bonds, raw determination, and just a dash of silliness. We are of course talking about the humble goose!

We are seeking a design for our new mascot, inspired by our beloved discord emoji, gooseknife. Submit your best goose holding a pencil here by July 31st to be considered! The winner will receive $50 in exchange for creative rights to the goose.

And don’t you worry, we will be holding a contest to name our new mascot, so get those names a-brewing.

The Workshop is Back!

Our workshop is taking the summer off to relax by the pool, but it’ll be back in business this August!

We’ll be meeting at Plaza Library on Sundays in August to deep dive into 5k excerpts of each other’s writing. We’ll only have 13 slots available this time around, so check out the workshop page and sign up today!

Critique Groups & Critique Partner Match Up

Coming this fall, one of our writers will be running a small weekly critique group specifically focusing on fantasy! More info and signups will be coming in the discord, so make sure you’re in the Discord to get first dibs!

Also coming this fall, we’ll be running a critique partner match up! You’ll fill out a form and we’ll send you 2-4 potential matches. You’ll exchange a few chapters of your work and get to know if it’s a good match for a critique partner! We estimate the form will open up in August with the first set of matches being sent out later that month.

Phew, that was a lot! Thanks for reading to the end. We’re so excited for this summer and beyond, and we’re glad you’re coming with us for it. As always, happy writing!

Joanie, Bee and Ali KanMoWriCo Co-Organizers