Fiction Writing Near Me

Shut Up & Write! at Ridgetop Coffee and Tea

**Looking for a group you can write with *whilst sipping your fave coffee*?** ☕✍️ Then come join **Shut Up & Write!** on **Saturday, September 19th from 1:30pm to 4:00pm** at **Ridgetop Coffee & Tea**! Whether you're cranking out a novel, journaling, looking for new friends, or just trying to get that stubborn paragraph right—we’ve got a cozy seat and a supportive group waiting for you! **No critiques, no peer review, no pressure—just a chill space to get words on the page.** 📝 **What to expect:** 1:30–2:00pm – Grab coffee or tea, find your seat, and meet your fellow writers. 2:00pm–3:30pm – Silent, focused writing time 3:30–4:00pm – Debrief, celebrate any writing wins, commiserate on any obstacles, and head out feeling accomplished. **RSVP Info:** The room seats only 10 people comfortably! RSVP as soon as possible to secure your spot!! If you are unable to attend, please cancel your reservation **ASAP** so those on the wait list are able to RSVP and attend!!! **Meeting Room:** Enter the coffee shop, walk straight towards the play area and on your left you will see a meeting room just past the bathrooms. The room has a TV, white board, and walls are painted green. Can't find us? Ask one of the baristas and they'll gladly help point you in the right direction. **What to Bring:** Whatever helps you focus, and be productive. There is a wall outlet at each end of the room, so you're able to bring your laptop to write, but please bring your own charging tools. You're welcome to bring headphones if you enjoy listening to music while working. **Parking & Accessibility:** there is a large parking lot out front and it is free! There are no stair cases when entering the coffee shop or when inside. This coffee shop is incredibly spacious with many seating options. If you have any questions, please message me through MeetUp. I'm happy to help. **Dietary Information:** many GF, Vegan, and SF options. Just ask your barista when ordering for specifics! Can’t wait to see you there! 🎉

Shut Up & Write! at Cascades Library!

Looking for a quiet, focused space to write? Come be part of our writing group—a dedicated time just for writing alongside fellow writers in your community. No readings, no critiques, no peer-review—just you writing within a supportive atmosphere. 7pm-7:15pm: Find your seat, set up your writing station, quick intro's. 7:15pm-8:45 pm: An hour and a half of silent focused writing. 8:45pm-9pm: Quick debrief, pack and head home. Can't wait to see you! :) Shut Up & Write! is not affiliated with the Loudoun county public library system.

Shut Up & Write! at Cascades!

Looking for a quiet, focused space to write? Come be part of our writing group—a dedicated time just for writing alongside fellow writers in your community. No readings, no critiques, no peer-review—just you writing within a supportive atmosphere. 7pm-7:15pm: Find your seat, set up your writing station, quick intro's. 7:15pm-8:45 pm: An hour and a half of silent focused writing. 8:45pm-9pm: Quick debrief, pack and head home. Can't wait to see you! :) Shut Up & Write! is not affiliated with the Loudoun county public library system.

Spires & Gargoyles: Writers’ Night

The gargoyles are assembling. Join us for the very first Spires & Gargoyles Writers’ Night, a casual evening of writing, drinks, conversation, and literary mischief in Rockville! Bring whatever you’re working on: a short story, novel, poem, essay, memoir, screenplay, half-finished idea, or nothing at all. We’ll begin by getting to know one another, spend part of the evening writing together, and leave plenty of room to hang out and talk about books, writing, and whatever else comes up. There will be an optional writing prompt for anyone who needs inspiration, and those who would like to may share a short piece or excerpt at the end. Sharing is completely optional, and this is not a critique workshop. Writers of every genre and experience level are welcome. So are readers, aspiring writers, people who haven’t written anything in years, and generally bookish people looking for a creative community closer to home. No publishing credits required. No MFA required. No finished manuscript required. What to bring: Something to write with, if you’d like to write. Laptops, notebooks, and ominous scraps of paper are all acceptable. Food and alcoholic and nonalcoholic drinks will be available for individual purchase from Silver Branch. There is no purchase or drinking requirement. Come alone or bring a friend. Either way, you won’t be the only person who doesn’t know anyone yet... it’s our first night! Come write strange things with us. 📍 Silver Branch Rockville 📅 Tuesday, September 22 🕖 7–9 PM

Shut Up & Write! at Cascades Library

Looking for a quiet, focused space to write? Come be part of our writing group—a dedicated time just for writing alongside fellow writers in your community. No readings, no critiques, no peer-review—just you writing within a supportive atmosphere. 7pm-7:15pm: Find your seat, set up your writing station, quick intro's. 7:15pm-8:45 pm: An hour and a half of silent focused writing. 8:45pm-9pm: Quick debrief, pack and head home. Can't wait to see you! :)

Profs & Pints Northern Virginia: Forgeries Throughout History

[Profs and Pints Northern Virginia](https://www.profsandpints.com/washingtondc) presents: **“Forgeries Throughout History,”** on famous fakes and their real impact, with Vanessa R. Corcoran, Catholic Church and medieval historian and director of Catholic Studies at Georgetown University. [Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Available at [https://events.ticketleap.com/tickets/profsandpints/nv-forgeries-throughout-history](https://events.ticketleap.com/tickets/profsandpints/nv-forgeries-throughout-history) .] Today people often discuss fraud and forgery as if they are uniquely modern problems—the products of the internet, artificial intelligence, and the rise of deepfakes. But the impulse to deceive by fabricating evidence, identities, or images is far older than any digital technology. Moreover, even those who did not get away with it for long sometimes altered the course of history with their trickery. Learn in depth about such deceptions during an evening of mythmaking and myth-busting with Dr. Vanessa R. Corcoran, previously has given excellent Profs and Pints on Catholic history and culture and the 2025 papal conclave. She’ll walk you through a series of forgeries tied to the Crusades, the Catholic Church, and the Byzantine Empire, especially focusing on fakery that confounded the medieval world. You’ll learn about cases involving forged documents, imitated signatures, counterfeited money, bogus works of art, and imposters in disguise. We’ll look at how Roman artists in antiquity created sculptures that they attempted to pass off as Greek works to increase marketability. (Even Michelangelo was guilty of trying to disguise one of his sculptures as a work from the classical era.) Later on, Dutch painter Han Van Meegeren created numerous forgeries of Vermeer’s paintings, ultimately getting convicted of fraud and forgery. Among acts of deception that changed the course of history was a medieval forgery titled “The Donation of Constantine,” which as of the late 700s was used to buttress claims that the fourth-century Byzantine Emperor Constantine I had transferred authority over Rome to the Pope. It was viewed as authentic until fifteenth-century Renaissance humanist Lorenzo Valla debunked it as created centuries after Constantine died. A popular legend in the Catholic Church held that a woman later known as “Pope Joan” disguised herself as a man and ruled as “popess” in the ninth century. That narrative, largely debunked by modern historians, was treated by medieval chronicles as credible and used to buttress arguments that women should be ordained as priests. Among other cases we’ll examine include the Shroud of Turin, purported to be the burial shroud of Jesus of Nazareth, which was denounced as forgery as early as 1389 but remains venerated as a relic by some believers. Dr. Corcoran’s talk will offer an important lens for understanding the challenges and stakes of today’s debates over AI-generated fakery. You’ll walk away with an appreciation of how every generation has had to learn, often painfully, how to distinguish what merely looks authentic from what actually is. (Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. Listed time is for doors. The talk starts 30 minutes later.) Image: Customers at a 1984 art and antiques fair examine a Han van Meegeren fake of a Vermeer. (Photo by Rob C. Croes, National Archives of the Netherlands.)

Shut Up & Write!® in Washington DC

Join us for some focused writing time. All writers and all experience levels are welcome and don’t worry, no one will see what you've written. This session is about getting your writing done and meeting other writers in your area. Bring your writing materials (such as a notebook or a charged laptop - outlets are limited.) And if you'd like to tune out other patrons at Sonny's or any overhead music, we recommend bringing headphones or earplugs. BEING LATE IS OKAY: Just show up and get settled, then check-in with me after the session. If you were on time, please be willing to make room for the friendly latecomer. Happy writing and I look forward to seeing you! When you show up, I will be sitting at a table with folded "Shut Up & Write" table cards. Say hello to everyone, grab a drink, and get your writing tools ready. Once you’re all settled, take some time to chat with your fellow writers. Once everyone’s arrived, I will lead quick introductions and then set the timer for our quiet and focused writing session. Afterward, we’ll have time to chat and get to know each other. We often talk about our successes and challenges as writers. If you don’t have time to stick around, no worries! **A note about the format** We don’t host critiques or readings. These events are a safe space for writers of all skill levels and genres to work on their craft, so no one will read or critique your writing. For our full event schedule, visit [https://shutupwrite.com](https://www.shutupwrite.com). **Other Important Details:** **WiFi name/password:** Name - Sonny's/Doubles Guest; Password - pingpong **Travel / Parking info:** Sonny's is on the D40/D4X bus line and about a 15 minute walk from either the Columbia Heights or Georgia Ave/Petworth metro lines. There is limited on-street parking. **Venue Guidelines:** Please thank our hosts by purchasing something.

Dinner at Falcon & Fig in Leesburg Village

Join fellow book club members for dinner and great conversation at **Falcon & Fig** in Leesburg Village. Each person is responsible for any food and drinks ordered. NOTE: You must be a paid member of The Leesburg Women's Book Club to attend. If you sign up and need to cancel, please notify us at least 24 hours in advance. Thank you.

The Awesome Writers Accountability Club for Writing & Creating (IN-PERSON!)

Profs & Pints Northern Virginia: Tom Paine’s Revolutions

[Profs and Pints Northern Virginia](https://www.profsandpints.com/washingtondc) presents: **“Tom Paine’s Revolutions,”** on a writer whose words inspired struggles for independence and ultimately left him alone, with Richard Bell, professor of history at the University of Maryland, College Park and author of the new book *The American Revolution and the Fate of the World.* [Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Available at [https://events.ticketleap.com/tickets/profsandpints/northern-virginia-thomas-paine](https://events.ticketleap.com/tickets/profsandpints/northern-virginia-thomas-paine) .] When Thomas Paine died in June 1809, scarcely a dozen people showed up to bury him. His funeral took place on the 250-acre farm in Westchester County that the people of New York had given him in gratitude for his role in inspiring the American Revolution. The grave was neither remote nor difficult to reach. Yet not one political leader came to pay respects to a man whose words had once helped set a continent on fire. How did one of the American Revolution’s greatest celebrities end up dying virtually friendless and despised? Join Richard Bell, professor of history at the University of Maryland, for a dramatic look at the astonishing rise and spectacular fall of Thomas Paine, the impoverished English immigrant and former corset-maker who became one of the most electrifying political writers of his age. You’ll learn how Paine arrived in America with little money or status and, through sheer force of argument, found a language capable of turning revolutionary ideas into calls to action. Bell will explore the extraordinary success of Common Sense, the incendiary 46-page pamphlet that appeared in 1776, sold on a staggering scale, and helped persuade ordinary colonists that independence from Britain was not only possible but necessary. Then he’ll trace what happened when Paine kept pushing. Paine’s *Rights of Man,* published beginning in 1791, embraced the radical promise of the French Revolution and attacked inherited privilege and monarchy. His *Age of Reason*, first published in 1794, challenged organized religion while championing deism, reason, and free thought. The convictions that had once made Paine a revolutionary hero increasingly made him seem dangerous, offensive, and intolerable to the cautious new republic that had emerged from the revolution he helped ignite. Come learn how America’s most relatable revolutionary became one of its most notorious outcasts—and how a founding father once celebrated for saying what others would not ended up paying a devastating price for refusing to stop. (Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. Listed time is for doors. The talk starts 30 minutes later.) Image: A statue of Thomas Paine in Thetford, England (Photo by Richard Croft / Wikimedia Commons.)

Roggenart - Reston

Come join us at this European bakery and cafe in Reston for good conversation and a relaxing start to your Saturday. Roggenart has a nice assortment of sweet and savory pastries and breakfast sandwiches. Free parking in the lot or garage.

Fountain Pen & Stationery Hangout 🖋️

Let’s meet again to share the joy of fountain pens with each other! Bring your spare inks to swap samples, if you enjoy that sort of thing. Journaling and art is welcome as well. See you there!