Introducing Community Coven: A Community-based Writing & Ritual Space for Writers COMMUNITY COVEN is a community-based workshop born out of the necessary: to develop a writing community and learn what you want to learn without the worry of cost. There should not be a price on learning. Here, our instructors volunteer their time and expertise to teach all levels and areas of writing craft. What practices, tools, tidbits, to-do’s do you want to create, catapult, conceptualize within your words? It’s all about you and supporting our local communities/small businesses/artists/creators. Each month we will showcase one community business or creator to help spotlight them and/or their business. All are welcome. We are fiercely inclusive of LGBTQIA BIPOC and promise to create a liberated space. *All workshop instructors are trained using Felicia Rose Chavez’sThe Anti Racist Writing Workshop: How to Decolonize the Creative Classroom. Building Discernment and Trust in Our Editing Practices-Community Coven Writing Space With Instructor Lauren Samblanet. Our editing practices can easily be taken over by fear, anxiety, concerns about marketability, imposter syndrome, and compare & despair syndrome. when our minds contract, as they do in states of fear and worry, we lose sight of the heart of our work and may make editing choices that don’t strengthen the heartbeat of our project(s). this two-hour workshop is designed to get us in touch with our truest creative desires, to find & hold close the heartbeat of our project(s), and to discern when our editing choices are aligned with the integrity and heart of our work vs when our editing choices are being motivated by other factors and/or emotions. this workshop will include a meditation, mindfulness offerings for your writing and editing processes, and a generative exercise to help us practice discernment and trust as we edit. Online via ZOOM. Please let us know if you have any accommodations if needed.   What To Bring: This workshop will take place on the online platform Zoom. Be sure to have something to write/type on/with. Please message for accommodations.  Date/Time: This workshop will be offered twice to accommodate participant’s work schedules/life: This has been rescheduled to June. The cost of this workshop is a sliding scale fee. Pay what you can between $15-$50 or you can pay via donation to cover your class fee (see more below). Lauren has chosen to showcase two non-profits: Denver Homeless Out Loud (https://denverhomelessoutloud.org/) and Safehouse Denver (https://safehouse-denver.org/). You can choose to donate to either of these two nonprofits to cover your registration for the workshop. Email below along with the receipt for your donation. For Community Coven Workshops only: If you have purchased from or donated to a local business or creator, please message alchemyauthorservices@gmail.com with the name of the workshop you want to attend and the name of the business or creator you purchased/donated to in your local community or the Denver/Front Range community and you will have a free spot in the workshop. Some businesses and creators will be highlighted to encourage donations and/or services to be purchased in order to support our local communities and creators. REGISTER AT: https://alchemyauthorservices.com/building-discernment-and-trust-in-our-editing-practices-community-coven-workshop-2/

The development of Alchemy Author Services began during the pandemic and after I lost my job. After volunteering as a reader for numerous literary magazines, working my way into several head editing roles, and offering to edit fellow writers’ work, I decided to start my own editing service. But not just editing. I wanted to provide the full range of services that professional writers need, from every type of editing offered to manuscript evaluations, beta readings, mentorships, journal recommendations, and landing an agent with query/pitch/synopsis services. It’s the full range of what a serious writer needs to be successful and land their goals.

Additionally, I formed a partnership with both Wilkes University as well as Regis University to offer internships to students and/or those interested in learning more about editing, running a small indie business, as well as marketing. Established in June of 2020, Alchemy Author Services has gained so much momentum, thanks in part to the extensive support from the writing community, my colleagues, mentors, and cohorts, as well as my friends and family. And so, the official Alchemy Author Services website has been launched today.

Beyond the author services aspect, I’ve been creating in my mind for the past four years a way to give back to the writing community. When I first started out wanting to write as a single mother with no degree under my belt, I found it impossible to afford or find someone to watch my son to be able to attend writing workshops, retreats, or even an MFA program. I never want anyone who is serious about their writing to not have access to furthering their development or to be able to be a part of a safe writing community and network. And so, Alchemy Writing Workshop was created as a sisterhood to the author services.

I also created the Alchemy Writing Workshop Patreon page to offer tips, advice, journal recommendations, news, and a way to help financially support this endeavor of an official website and writing workshop. Please consider joining, as all proceeds go to funding this site, events, and the workshop.

And you. Thank you for taking the time to read these words and check out my website. It’s been a pleasure to create alongside dear friends whose only interest is helping me be successful. That’s what community is all about. I hope you join me in forging forward to create an even bigger and stronger one together.