Writing Your Way into the New Year

New beauty meets us at every step in all our wanderings.
—John Muir

Welcome 2026
Whether you make resolutions for the new year or not, all of us at Write On hope that 2026 finds you happy and fulfilled. The new year seems to me to be a time to be grateful for all that is good around us and have hope that what is not good will change—and to find the courage to take action to make such change possible. May we all continue to shine light through the darkness around us. 

Recipe for Writing
One thing I promise myself each year is that I will try one new recipe every week. I love to cook but am not inventive on my own. I need a recipe to inspire and directions to follow. As a vegetarian, I often find creative ways to adapt meat recipes to a satisfying dish that meets my diet, but that is about as inventive as I get.

If you are the same way with writing, we have some recipes that may give you that inspiration and confidence to make your own stories and poems. Our online class Rekindling the Muse with Robin Sauerwein will provide the ideas and encouragement for new writing. If an eight-week class seems too intimidating, check out one of the five sessions we offer monthly of Memoir Monday. These free one-hour writing labs will get you started on writing stories from your life. Click here to read more about Memoir Monday by one of our facilitators, Judith Miller.

Reading Your Way into the New Year
Though our name is “Write On,” we also offer many programs for readers as well. Our Great Lakes/Great Books club, which focuses on books with the lakes as setting or subject, meets the first Thursday of the month. Due to the New Year’s Day holiday, January’s meeting will be on the second Thursday. We also offer Reader’s Cafe the third Sunday of every month, a chance to meet with other book lovers and talk about books. And every quarter, we are a partner with Gathering Ground and Fair Isle books on their quarterly book club. The hybrid discussion group meets Saturday, January 24, at 2 pm Central.

This month, we are excited to have our board member Ann Heyse featured in conversation with Kate Quinn as the kick-off event for Door County Reads. Quinn’s book The Briar Club, is this year’s community reads selection. Ann and Kate will talk about the book and historical fiction on Saturday, January 17, at noon at Sturgeon Bay High School Auditorium. 

Wander In
Whether you think of yourself as a writer or as a reader or as neither, we hope you will wander in and explore our campus. Come in and grab a cup of coffee, take a seat by the fire and enjoy the beauty of our center and the land around us. Our hiking trails are beautiful in winter. Feel free to bring snowshoes or cross-country skis! As always, dogs on leashes are welcome. We look forward to seeing you!

Deadlines Approaching!

January 9: deadline to apply for Telling the Truth of Our Lives, our yearlong mentoring program for women who want to write but may have faced barriers in doing so. Women of any age who live in Door County and would like to discover writing as a creative outlet are encouraged to apply. The group meets once a month on a Saturday morning beginning in February. 

January 15: deadline to apply for the Dick Scuglik Memorial Fellowship. This fellowship includes a one-week residency at Write On, June 14 – 21, along with a stipend, and some funds for travel and groceries. Writers at any level of experience who work in ekphrasis (writing in response to visual art) are welcome to apply. The writer will be paired with Door County artist Laurel Grey. The two will exchange writing and images and create new work in response to the other’s art.