First Draft Detroit News – April 30, 2026

Hello Drafters!

Feel free to imagine me wandering in with a dazed look on my face and holding a large sugar-free vanilla iced coffee from your coffee chain of choice. Possibly also singing along with “It’s Gonna Be Me” by *NSYNC.

The good news is that I have SO much news for y’all: Summer Frenzy, Game Day, PLUS a brand new writing seminar! All the deets can be found below!

Suddenly Community College

A brand new event for this year, Suddenly Community College is a one-day writing seminar, featuring faculty local to the area. The event will start at 12:15 PM on Saturday, May 16, 2026 at the Ferndale Public Library. Thanks to Suddenly Scholarships, tuition is a nice round zero dollars. Aren’t we all the luckiest of dinos!

Tell me more!

Sure! The program will run for roughly 4 hours. You must arrive at 12:15 PM, because we will begin promptly at 12:30 PM. We will hear each of our five faculty members give a 15 minute lecture on their writing topic, and then there will be open writing time along with the opportunity to have five-minute one-on-one sessions with our faculty to discuss your project. Only the first twenty-three (23) attendees to sign in at the event will have the opportunity to speak one-on-one with the faculty. Latecomers are welcome to listen to the faculty lectures and take advantage of the free writing time, but will not be able to join the faculty rotation.

Please bring something with which to take notes, and a project to work on and/or discuss with the faculty.

We have all the details (including the faculty list) here: https://firstdraftdetroit.org/suddenly-community-college/

We’re looking forward to seeing you there!

Summer Frenzy!

We had such a great time with our summer frenzy last year, we figured why not try it again? The schedule is looking similar to last year, so if you participated you already know what to expect!

Are we doing that kickoff picnic again?

We are! We’re currently looking at July 11 for that one at Starr-Jaycee Park in Royal Oak. We’ll send more details out soon!

How about that Mostly Midway Midway Madness deal?

Yep! That’s looking like it’ll fall on July 25 at the Dovetail Cafe in Warren. When I send the details about the picnic I’ll let you all know the final details on that, too.

Are you doing that Suddenly Art Auction again?

You bet your britches we are! If you’re looking to donate an art piece or a craft (it’s gotta be dinosaur themed in honor of Suddenly) you can get started on that. Let a member of the board know and we’ll make sure it gets into the auction safe and sound. I’ll send out a link once we’ve got that squared away.

Game Day Fundraiser

So nice, we’re doing it thrice (at least)! So mark ye calendars, for this year it be on September 19, Talk Like A Pirate Day! Arrr!

We’ll have pirate-themed games, a tropical bake sale (so you don’t get scurvy), and nautically nerdy goodies in the auction! Make sure you start saving your doubloons and plan out your costume for the costume contest!

More details will be forthcoming.

Scribbles

Scribbles are our more low-key creative get-togethers. We have 4 every month (except December please we just want to sleep) and we would love to see you there!

• First and Third Wednesdays: Dessert Oasis (Ferndale) with Chesnaye, 4:30 to 7:30 PM
• Second Thursday: Road Less Traveled Books (Farmington) with Erin, 4:30 to 6:30 PM
• Final Friday: The Fern (Royal Oak) with Owen, 5 PM to 7 PM

If you want to host a scribble then feel free to let a member of the board know. You can host an online-only one, or you can host an in-person one. Be the scribble you want to see in the world!

Donations

As a reminder, we are a 501c3 nonprofit, which means any donations you make to us are tax-deductible! We have several avenues available for you to donate to, if you’re interested:

1. Kroger Community Rewards (search for First Draft Detroit)
2. Paypal: firstdraftdetroit@gmail.com
3. Cashapp: $firstdraftdetroit

If you desire the shiny gold donor role in our Discord sever, do any of the above (including signing up for Kroger Community Rewards) and let one of Da Board know!

The donor role in Discord and the donor page on our website have both been reset for 2026, so this is your chance to get in on the ground floor!

Find us online!

As always, you can reach us via this email and in several social media-type places!

• Discord: http://discord.gg/GZxdWjs
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/firstdraftdetroit/
• Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/firstdraftdetroit.bsky.social

Creatively Yours,
Erin
Director of Community Engagement
First Draft Detroit