My Writing Shed

10/09/2026

🎉 Celebrate our four-year SHEDiversay with us!

On Wednesday, October 14th, the date My Writing Shed was formed, we’re hosting a Word Game Night. This themed board game night will begin at 6:00pm and run until 9:00pm.

It’s free, open to the public, and there will be cake! Choose from our selection of games or bring your own.

Games we’ll have on hand to play:
* Bananagrams
* Boggle
* Q-Less
* Quiddler
* Scrabble
* Scrabble Slam
* Upwords
* Word Yahtzee

🔗 Seating is limited. RSVP at the link in our bio.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My Writing Shed acknowledges support from the Illinois Arts Council.

10/09/2026

It’s October!! My Writing Shed is celebrating our four-year anniversary (a.k.a. our SHEDiversary) this month!

We’re pleased to announce that all events will be free and open to everyone regardless of writership status! Please feel free to invite your friends, family, and community members to our events in October. Writing hours are for adults only, but our community events are family friendly. We’d love to celebrate with you!

Additionally, in honor of our SHEDiversary, our small team of volunteers are working hard to build a new website with an improved subscription experience. The change will ensure 100% of writership and donation funds make it us, which directly benefits all of our writers. We will be saving $800+ a year in website costs. We’ll have a new portal for writers to re-subscribe or sign up, and as always, our writerships will remain pay-what-you-can.

To our writers, donors, and supporters: THANK YOU! My Writing Shed wouldn’t exist without you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My Writing Shed acknowledges support from the Illinois Arts Council.

10/02/2026

🚧 My Writing Shed’s website is under construction!

We’re improving our subscription platform and making website changes at the same time. Our writers will get an email at 10:14am today explaining.

We apologize for the confusion caused by the writership and donation cancellation notices yesterday. We didn’t know the site would send notification emails since it usually alerts before that happens. Canceling each subscription manually was the only way to stop our web platform from charging for October.

More about that and other announcements are coming soon! Stay tuned. 💜

09/26/2026

Writing groups are a go! Special thanks to everyone who attended our informational meeting. You reinforced the importance and beauty of bringing writers together. We’re more excited than ever to start these groups with you.

If you’d like to join a writing group, please fill out the interest form linked in our bio by 11:45pm on Sunday, October 4th. After that, we’ll start working our magic to connect you with a small group of writers who have similar interests and/or availability.

Good to know:
* An active writership is not required to fill out the form. We will ask participants to sign up for a pay-what-you-can writership once groups start.
* Group size will be 4-6 writers. Most likely 4.
* Groups will meet in person.
* Participants will be trained on giving and receiving feedback/critiques.
* Support will be provided to assist with group dynamics, including help moving to a different group if something is not a good fit.

Thank you, and happy writing!

My Writing Shed acknowledges support from the Illinois Arts Council.

09/21/2026

✨On First Friday, come celebrate live music, local art, and poetry with My Writing Shed and Lit. on Fire Books!

🗓️ October 2nd from 5-8pm
📍 712 and 716 West Main Street, Peoria IL
🎤 Live Music with Audrey Drake
🎨 The Creative Bohemian Pop-Up Shop
📝 Blackout Poetry with Jessica Stephenson

🎤 Enjoy a very special two-hour performance by talented vocal piano arranger, Audrey Drake! Her ability to arrange elements of songs in new and different ways is something you won’t want to miss.

🎨 The Creative Bohemian will be hosting a pop-up shop! She spins and dyes her own art yarn from luxury fibers and weaves the yarn into scarves and wraps! She also weaves rugs and table runners from recycled jeans and tshirts, and has other gift items made from recycled/repurposed materials. 

📝 Jessica Stephenson, poet and founder of Lit. On Fire Books, will help you create your own blackout poem using a marker and a page from a pre-loved book! You can stop with just the poem (they look pretty nifty on their own) or you can use our medley of collage materials to turn your poem into a frameable piece of art.

📚 Lit. On Fire Books will be open for your shopping pleasure from noon-8pm!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My Writing Shed acknowledges support from the Illinois Arts Council.

   

08/30/2026

On First Friday, come celebrate live music, local art and poetry with My Writing Shed and Lit. on Fire Books! Please keep us in mind as you make your way to the different locations full of live music and art.

🗓️ September 4th from 5-8pm
📍 712 and 716 West Main Street, Peoria IL
🎤 Live Music with Pete Wald
🎨 Alonzo Arts Pop-Up Shop
📝 Blackout Poetry with Jessica Stephenson

🎤 Pete Wald will perform 3 hours of originals as part of First Fridays Amplified! You won’t want to miss this.

🎨 Acadia with Alonzo Arts will be hosting a pop-up shop! Expect an enticing medley of original artwork and lino prints, including clothes! It’s a groovy chance to support a talented, local artist and score rad local art.

📝 Jessica Stephenson, poet and founder of Lit. On Fire Books, will help you create your own blackout poem using a marker and a page from a pre-loved book! You can stop with just the poem (they look pretty nifty on their own) or you can use our medley of collage materials to turn your poem into a frameable piece of art.

📚 Lit. On Fire Books will be open for your shopping pleasure from noon-8pm!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My Writing Shed acknowledges support from the Illinois Arts Council.

   

08/01/2026

🎉Visit our booth and come to our workshop! On Saturday, August 8th, My Writing Shed will be at Ignite Peoria along with hundreds of local makers, musicians, artists, innovators, dancers, and actors!

Ignite Peoria, brought to our community by , offers a day of fun and learning with FREE entry and FREE parking.

📓In our Make & Take Anti-Scroll Journal workshop, we’ll gift you a small journal to personalize and teach you seven ways to mindfully fill it. Find us in Room 135 on the first floor from 11-11:45am. Journals available while supplies last.

🚙Free parking + 🎟️Free entry
📍Peoria Civic Center (clear bag policy in effect)
🗓️August 8th from 9am-5pm
📓My Writing Shed workshop from 11-11:45am

See you there!
artspartners.net/ignite-peoria/

07/29/2026

Check out all of these groovy places to visit for First Friday!

It's hot outside but it'll be cool at these First Friday venues! 🎶 🎨 Join us on Friday, August 7th for an evening of live music, local art exhibitions, good food, and community. First Fridays are free, family-friendly, and open to the public. Most events begin at 5 p.m. but you can check with each individual venue for schedules of activities and performances! Visit firstfridaypeoria.com for more information.

✏️ My Writing Shed + Lit. on Fire Books
🎶 Studios On Sheridan at The Sunbeam Building
🤘🏽 The Flamingo Room at Ribbon Records
🖌️ ArtsPartners of Central Illinois
🎤 Westminster Community Center
🌮 Casa de Arte
🧘‍♀️ Soulside Healing Arts
🎨 Artful Journey Gallery
🍝 Michael's Italian Feast
🖼️ Contemporary Art Center of Peoria
📖 River City Reading Room
👩‍🎨 Foster Gallery for Christianity and the Fine Arts
🖼️ Peoria Art Guild

07/29/2026

On August 7th from 5-8pm, come celebrate First Friday, live music, and poetry with My Writing Shed and Lit. on Fire Books!

🎤 Kirk Wessler will perform a blend of originals and covers as part of First Fridays Amplified! You may even get to hear the stories behind some of the songs.

📝 Jessica Stephenson, poet and founder of Lit. On Fire Books, will help you create your own blackout poem using a marker and a page from a pre-loved book!

📚 Lit. On Fire Books will be open for your shopping pleasure from noon-8pm!

Find us at 712 and 716 West Main Street in Peoria, IL.

My Writing Shed acknowledges support from the Illinois Arts Council.

   

06/20/2026

Come celebrate First Friday, live music, and the Twilight* series with My Writing Shed and Lit. on Fire Books!

🎂 On Edward Cullen’s 125th birthday, about three things we are absolutely positive. First, First Friday is July 3rd from 5-8pm. Second, there is a part of you-and we don’t know how potent that part might be-that thirsts for live music from Ava Easter. And third, we are unconditionally and irrevocably excited to invite you to a Twilight themed evening, complete with music, sparkly vampire activities, and a free chance to win your very own 20th anniversary copy of Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight: Deluxe Collector’s Edition.

🧛“How you likin’ the rain, girl?” Ava Easter is joining us as part of First Fridays Amplified! You’ll get to hear a mix of songs from The Twilight Saga, originals, and other covers. It’s going to be epic!

🐺“Hold on tight, spider monkey!” Jessica from Lit. on Fire Books will help you create your own blackout poem using a marker and a page from a damaged pre-loved copy of Twilight! You can also complete or take home a Twilight Saga word game.

🍎 “And So the Lion Fell in Love With the Lamb.” The first 10 Twilight fans of the evening will receive a 1:12 scale miniature book! A limited number of themed beaded bracelets will be available. And one lucky winner will find out at 7:30pm if they get to take home the gorgeous Twilight: Deluxe Collector’s Edition.

📚 Lit. On Fire Books will be open for your shopping pleasure from noon-8pm!

🖋️My Writing Shed will open from noon-4pm for writing hours!

✨“I like the night. Without the dark, we’d never see the stars.” - Stephenie Meyer (P.S. All above quotes are from her, too.)

* Team Bella, Team Edward, Team Jacob, Team Never Read It - This event is suitable for all, so please don’t hesitate to join in!

My Writing Shed acknowledges support from the Illinois Arts Council.

    HappyBirthdayEdwardCullen