January 21, 2026 Recap

It was a quiet, snowy night, and we missed SO MANY of you. We hope you were all warm and cozy and safe (and maybe sleeping? Brad?). 

We did have a new member join us, even though it was quiet and snowy. :) Leah is a long-time friend of the store and a fabulous sex and couples therapist. She is also a fellow journaller and is mulling over a project to do with her old journals (like, from early teenagehood! OH THE CRINGE, as the kids say)! WELCOME, LEAH! 

We talked a bit about Steve's prospective piece for the Waterloo Region-based anthology (he needs characters! a plot! We think it's going fine...), about Sven's poetry collection (Scrivener is being a bit of butt, but he has committed to having progress made by next Sunday!), and (DRUMROLL) Julia joining the homework brigade again (that's right: I'm committing to sending out TWO new chapters of my book by next Wednesday, January 28, 2026, and then getting back on the one chapter every other week wagon until I FINISH THIS DAMN DRAFT. For new people, this is completely an accountability thing on my end (I hate disappointing people, so it helps me stay on track), and you are more than welcome to read or not read or give feedback or delete the email once it hits your inboxes. Just the act of being able to send it is all I need. Let me know if you don't want to receive chapters and I won't clog up your inboxes). 

Also, we tried naming an ice cream for Laurier (a request from Jess' stepmom (GUYS: We didn't scare Jess away!) to sell as their signature flavour. Sven came up with Purple Reign, which was GENIUS, but apparently stupid Western already stole it (purple and gold are very popular university colours, apparently...) Jacqui also came up with a great name: Beaks and Feet Crunch (based off of another suggestion of Golden Hawk Crunch). 

AND we thought of another band name, but I can't for the life of me remember what it was...Bueller? Bueller? Can anyone else who was there remember? I swear it had nothing to do with Sobbing Uteruses, which was the band name winner from last time. 

Couple of housekeeping items: 

- Next time (February 4, 2026), I will be bringing some romance-themed prompts for a fun, quick and dirty Valentine's writing session (how much quick or dirty will be completely up to each author!). Again, this is completely voluntary and for fun. :) Reading will also be optional, but is highly encouraged because you're all so insanely talented and hilarious. 

- We are still tracking down answers with regard to funding for the anthology, so stay tuned! Also, we will be prepping and sharing an official description and timeline for the anthology submissions by next Guild so we can all get imagining and writing. 

As you dig your way out of ALL OF THIS SNOW and try to find the sun, we wish you lots of inspiration, grace, and of course, pages of brilliant words (or, at least pages of words you can edit into brilliance). 

Happy writing! 

Julia and Sven