Our mission is to build a supportive writing community for women and non-binary writers. We write. We share inspiration. We encourage. Together, we create an energizing community space for writers:
- Plume: A Writer’s Podcast: Our podcast features successful women and non-binary writers, from emerging writers to bestselling novelists and award-winning poets. Our conversations and literary roundtables showcase hard-working talented writers, as we seek advice, insight, and inspiration to bring us back to our collective community. Along the way, our goal is to help writers believe in their voices and projects.
- Our Weekly Drop-in Zoom Group: Now in its third year, this is a virtual drop-in support group, where writers check in about current projects and share writing challenges and triumphs. We also write together in response to a new writing prompt each week.
- Our Plume Slack Channel: This is an online virtual space where women and non-binary writers can share resources, ask questions, connect with other writers, share writing prompts and projects, and offer and receive support in a safe, private space.
- Plume’s Monthly Accountability Group: Plume’s newest community-building addition, the Accountability Group, is designed for writers tackling large-scale writing projects. We meet to set goals, discuss strategies, offer encouragement, and help hold ourselves and each other accountable.
Through Plume’s literary community, we seek to uplift, showcase, and encourage women and non-binary writers wherever they are on their creative writing journey. We’re here to fan each other’s flames.
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Crystal K. Odelle
A few years ago I was at the AWP conference in L.A. when I met Brenna Gomez through a mutual friend from grad school. Brenna and I had gone through the same program, but at different times. She gave off a warm, writerly energy, and I knew she was going to be someone I would hear about again. Fast forward a couple years, and I went to a local reading where Brenna was one of the featured writers. I was mesmerized by her visceral work (and you can read that very same engrossing story if you subscribe to Plume for July!), and, I admit, a little intimidated by her publishing credits. Plume is delighted to feature Brenna’s work this summer. We hope you enjoy our interview with her!Plume: When did you know you were a writer?Brenna Gomez: I knew I wanted to be a writer after working in the non-profit sector for several years. I was struggling to write and wanted to carve out space in my life for my writing. That’s when I applied for MFA programs. The whole time I was in my MFA, I learned so much, but I felt like I was a baby writer. I knew I was a writer, but I think a lot of the time we don’t feel it despite the knowing. I think the moment it clicked—when I really felt like a writer —was during my first few minutes at my Hedgebrook writing residency. I was walking down the trail from my cabin in the woods on Whidbey Island, and a Hedgebrook staff member was on the phone. “Oh, I’ll have to call you back. Here comes one of the writers.” Swoon! But the reality is it doesn’t have to be a big moment like this. We’re writers when we decide we are. The trick is just to get ourselves to believe it and have that feeling last. P: Where do you get your ideas?BG: It really depends. In my fiction, inspiration often springs from a striking image, a line of dialogue I overhear a person say in real life, or a person I don’t know very well that I find fascinating. In my nonfiction, I’m obviously pulling more from my own life. I’ve been reading a lot of memoir to see all the different ways it’s possible to do so. I’ve also found that reading more poetry has helped my … Read more
