the Writer's Cabin

the birth of a creative collective & an invitation for female writers!

Welcome to Lady Agrarian. I’m Emma, writer and farmer, wife and homemaker. Here I write about literature, seasonality, and living with an appreciation for the sacred and beautiful. As always, I hope you find nourishment here.

This one is for the writers among us — a new project is about to take its maiden voyage! Settle in, and let me tell you all about it.

Two things I’ve been longing for — first, a group of writing pals. Second, a writing studio.

(via Pinterest)

Do you remember the old Peter Rabbit & Friends series? The show begins with Beatrix Potter sitting on a hillside, painting the beautiful bucolic scene before her, when suddenly thunder rumbles and it begins to rain. She quickly packs up her brushes and easel and hurries back to her little stone cottage, where a warm fire crackles in the hearth and Peter Rabbit is waiting for her on the rug. Beatrix pours herself a cup of tea to take off the rain’s chill, then sits down and dips her pen in the inkwell to begin another story.

I want that little cottage. I dream of a cozy, properly set-apart place to hunker down and create. I’d love a writing desk where I can leave pages scattered and hang watercolors from twine, with a wide window that overlooks my beautiful English garden and lets in the earthy scents of herbs and flowers. Other times, my fantasy takes the form of a rustic cabin, with high windows framed in silvery snow overlooking the mountains, a place full of warmth and firelight and ripe with ideas.

I don’t have any such studio at the moment. My kitchen table is my writing scene, and it’s the place from whence I write to you these words. I believe there’s a beauty in the creative work that spawns from within the nucleus of domestic industry. (I think of Bess Streeter Aldrich, one of my favorite writers, who wrote her novels while raising five children to pay for their schooling — I’m sure her house was noisy, and I’m sure she dreamed of a quiet cabin at times.)

Someday, I’d like a studio. It doesn’t have to be a cottage in the Cotswolds, but it does have to be beautiful.

There must be something in the nature of every writer that longs for this private place, dedicated to craft and open to solitude. However, if there’s one thing I’ve learned from the last ten years, it is that I am a much better writer when life is not lived alone.

The writing life can be a lonely one, but it doesn’t have to be. There’s a dance constantly taking place between these two things — the guarded time and space necessary to write, and the rewards of life lived in the full color of human connection — but I know the balance is possible, and I believe it is worth all the effort. I haven’t perfected this — far from it. But I have learned it to be true, and I only learned this when I began to invite others in.

And that is what I’d like to do now — to invite you in!

always, always there is a fire involved (via Pinterest)

Lewis and Tolkien had their Inklings. Don’t you think they were better writers, thinkers, and people for those conversations had together over pints at the Eagle and Child? The Impressionist movement grew out of the friendship of four young artists in Paris — Renoir, Monet, Sisler, and Bazille. Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton used to go out for martinis after lectures and talk about poetry. One may argue that artists don’t need one another to create beautiful art. But I believe creativity — like any human pursuit — flourishes within community.

Last spring, I listened to an episode of The Habit Podcast¹ with guest Sarah Arthur, who talked about how much value there is to being part of a writing group. I heard about a local writing group at our library, so I went one Saturday to try it out. It wasn’t a bad experience. The five or six of us were all strangers — not that being old friends is a prerequisite for a good community, of course — and so there was some awkwardness. The guidelines told us we were not to talk about politics or religion. Well…how can we get anywhere if I can’t talk about religion? I thought. The others were really into Manga, which admittedly is not my scene. And then I think I offended someone by offering an opinion of her story synopsis — it was totally accidental, but a faux pas, nonetheless. I’m not saying I’ll never go back, but it just wasn’t quite what I’m looking for.

Here’s what I am looking for — a close community of women writers, built on real friendship, and celebrating the common understanding that everything beautiful in this world is the gift of God — that truth is absolute, and so it can be examined without fear — that the artist’s work has no higher purpose than to glorify God, and that He is the author of every truly great story.

---

The Writer’s Cabin is my imperfect solution to this desire for a writing community. I say imperfect, because a more ideal scenario would be if we could all get together once a week in Jo March’s attic to discuss, share, and drink tea. But alas, this isn’t possible. My writing friends and I live far apart as it is, and I don’t want to confine the group to location when we have the ability to share so much through the amazing means of the internet. (Might as well use it for good, right? Right.)

I would love for this to have some live, in-person components in the future! I’m already dreaming of meet-ups and future retreats — maybe at a real-life cabin in the real-life mountains. But for now, the Writer’s Cabin will be “hosted”, if you will, here on Substack, at least formally.

Really, though, it’s in our homes, at our kitchen tables, and in the bright halls of our imaginations. And if you are so lucky to have a studio, well, I’d love to visit and while away a few hours.

My hope for this group is that it brings us real value. What I don’t want — as I’m guessing none of you do either — is an obligation to spend even more time on the internet in an aimless chat box, sucking time away from actually writing. The goal is to spur one another on to write more, and better, and to have fun on the journey! We can learn so much from one another. And the power of accountability is not to be underplayed — this I have also learned from lived experience, and this I would do well to remember.

(via Pinterest)

So what do you say — will you join me?

Here’s what being a member of the Writer’s Cabin will look like:

• access to a private chat here on Substack. As much as I personally dislike group chats, I know it’s so helpful to have a place to ask questions and share resources.

• a resource list with everything from publishing information, writing programs and masterclasses, prompts, and helpful books, which all members can add to

• a weekly challenge sprint and check-in

• a monthly zoom call with various conversation topics

• a round-robin peer review that will rotate every month, where each member can share something they’ve written with another member for feedback

• a round-robin (can you tell I like this phrase) snail mail letter that we will add to and send around until it gets back to the first person

• an annual story anthology that members can contribute to, which will hopefully become a physical book!

• bonus: you can pick a literary nickname for yourself (this is very geeky but I think it sounds fun)

Of course, most everything here is optional. The goal is to foster community and encourage productive writing, not to weigh each other down with extra tasks. I am excited to see what else grows out of this group, as I’m sure I’m not the only one with ideas. We’ll see as we grow how each of these things proves its actual value.

Here’s how membership will work: this is a community, a collective, a mutual service of encouragement and accountability we are offering each other. There is no fee associated with membership, but we do want to be exclusive in some ways. I’d like this particular group to be women only, and because of the reasons I’ve already mentioned, I’m encouraging particularly Christian women writers to join. If you’re not a believing Christian, you can still join. Like I said, we won’t bar discussions of differences of view as long as they are civil, gracious, and fruitful. As far as the type of writing, that doesn’t matter — fiction, nonfiction, personal essay, devotional, poetry, plays, film — come one, come all.

The gatekeeper, in essence, will be the subscription to this private newsletter and chat. All Writer’s Cabin content will be kept private, but approved members will be subscribed to the publication and have access to all its resources plus the private chat.

To be subscribed — aka to join — message me on Substack or e-mail me at emmajanereporting@gmail.com and let me know you want to join the Writer’s Cabin. This will also hopefully avoid passersby (read: internet trolls) from casually subscribing who aren’t really interested in being part of a writing group.

You can also request to be subscribed here: https://writerscabin.substack.com/

I’m so very excited!

(Little Women 2019)

Lastly, I have one disclaimer/humble request — still being fairly new to Substack’s platform and also being (by choice, I admit) something of a luddite, I’m still figuring out how hosting a group like this will work. If there are some bumps in the road and clatters under the hood starting out, please forgive me. I’m hoping everything will work out smoothly in time and, as I said, be a simple and a pleasant way for us all to connect. I’m praying this bears fruit.

“I want to do something splendid before I go into my castle—something heroic, or wonderful—that won’t be forgotten after I’m dead. I don’t know what, but I’m on the watch for it, and mean to astonish you all, some day. I think I shall write books.”

- Jo March in Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (chapter 13)

---

Here’s to many good ideas, much rich conversation, encouragement, and progress — I can’t wait to be astonished by you all.

Truly,

Emma

1. a favorite writing podcast. So inspiring for the creative writer, musician, and all kinds of artists.