Like most writers, I am protective of my time. Too many obligations mean less writing.

So, when the author Eugenia Kim, outgoing chair of the Writer’s Center (TWC) board, asked me to consider joining the board, I hesitated, flashing back to the seven years I was trapped on the PTA after impulsively volunteering to serve on its executive board.

Then, I thought about how much I’ve benefited from the Bethesda-based TWC since moving back to the Washington, DC, area in 2006, when I was working on an historical-fiction manuscript that I’d started while living in Japan.

I’d long wanted to be a published author and had even written a novel while in my 20s. My only beta reader was my then-boyfriend/now-husband. I was not a part of a writing group, nor did I have an MFA cohort. Though I had friends who were writers, I never thought to discuss craft or trade advice with them. I felt protective of my writing and believed I could make it on my own. Among the many reasons my first manuscript failed was that I was a writer in isolation. Stung and humiliated, I put away my writing things for a number of years.

Inevitably, the writing bug bit me again. After intensively researching my subject, I was in the midst of the first draft when we moved to the Maryland suburbs. While I was determined to avoid the mistakes of my first manuscript, I still had no thought of seeking out other writers. That would just take time away from my writing. And as a mother of two school-age children with a full-time job who woke in the pre-dawn hours to squeeze in 60 minutes of writing a day, I didn’t think I had that time to waste.

Then, I began to write for the Independent and met other book reviewers. Through them, I found out about a monthly women’s writer meetup held at the Writer’s Center. I began to attend regularly, and between the Independent and TWC, I found what I didn’t know I needed: a literary home.

TWC hosts those monthly meetups for free (though you’re asked to bring something for the potluck). It’s just one of many events that take place at TWC at no cost to the organizers or attendees. There are so many free events that they have their own calendar. From book launches by local writers to open mics to affinity groups, you can find it cost-free at TWC. And not all free events require you travel to Bethesda: TWC also offers virtual craft chats that feature writers discussing their recent publications, as well as a monthly poetry book club (the fiction book club meets in person).

I belong to a flash-fiction writing group that had its origins in a TWC workshop. Friends have taken and/or facilitated TWC workshops, including many, many who’ve gone on to publish their own books. Currently, TWC offers 300 workshops annually, the majority online.

While virtual workshops make attendance easy and accessible to those beyond the DMV, community is better fostered in person, and TWC is hoping to increase onsite attendance as more distance is gained on the pandemic era and people return to the rewards and pleasures of face-to-face encounters.

(Overwhelmed by all the workshop opportunities? TWC provides advice on how to choose the right one.)

For those working on book-length projects, TWC offers Book Farm, longer-term, intensive workshops with limited enrollments led by luminaries such as Nicole Chung and C Pam Zhang. Currently, applications are open for YA novel, memoir, short story, and works-in-progress.

Keeping in mind its mission of “Supporting writers and everyone who wants to write,” TWC offers scholarships for workshops (excluding Book Farm), as well as the Compass Fellowship, which includes generous credit for workshops, a cash stipend, and other perks.

But wait, there’s more! TWC is also the publisher of Poet Lore, America’s oldest poetry journal. Published biannually, this print journal is curated by a guest editor, is free to submit to, and pays on acceptance. An annual subscription is only $20, the equivalent of a fancy cocktail — and a small price to pay for poetry and the chance to support poets.

And let’s not forget the Writer’s Center Magazine, a triannual print publication with author interviews, craft essays, book reviews, fiction and poetry, and workshop and event calendars. Subscribe today, it’s free!

A nonprofit organization, TWC is currently celebrating its 50th anniversary and recently hosted a very successful fundraising appeal, demonstrating the faith the institution has engendered in the writing community. Though the appeal is over, donations are always welcome.

Needless to say, I humbly and happily accepted the offer to put my name up for the board and was voted in. After attending a few board meetings and being introduced to the dedicated and talented staff, all writers themselves, I already know that I’ll not be eyeing the exits as I did while serving on the PTA.

And that manuscript I was working on when I first started attending events at TWC? It will finally be published in February 2027. In those intervening years, I’ve learned that spending time with my writing community is vital to my success as an author, and I’m grateful to TWC for showing me the way.

Alice Stephens’ second novel, The Twain: A Tale of Nagasaki, will be published in February 2027. Read more about her at alicestephens.com.