Rose City Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers
Our three-fold mission is to create, socialize, and learn. We provide safe, inclusive spaces (in-person and online) for speculative fiction writers of all experience levels.
April 2026 Newsletter
Hey everyone! This is the first of many newsletters we plan to share to keep you in the loop on all things RCSFFW. We hope you find it informative, and please let us know if you have any suggestions or topics you’d like to see in future installments.
Authors’ Publications!
So that recent publications are not forgotten, for the time being we will be including member publications from six months and one year ago (if there are any we are aware of).
March 2026
Perseverance by Deborah Sale-Butler in Amazing Stories: The Best of 2025 Anthology
https://books2read.com/u/bpvRez
Today I Ate a Biscuit by Justin M. Davis
https://www.amazon.com/Today-Ate-Biscuit-Justin-Davis-ebook/dp/B0GPLZGW3R/
September 2025
Best Hugs on the Planet by Mick Sewell
https://www.amazon.com/Best-Hugs-Planet-Mick-Sewell-ebook/dp/B0FPYMXSGL
| Did you publish a story in April 2026, October 2025, or April 2025? |
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| Please share the title, pen name, publication date, and a URL to rosecity.sff.writers@gmail.com. |
Beta Reading Exchange
Do you want to read speculative stories from local authors and help make them better? Register on our website (rosecitysff.org) and subscribe to the “Beta Reader Requests” list. Each story you read will give you one or more Beta Creds (1 per thousand words) to use when you’re ready for feedback on your own story.
Are you in need of beta readers? If you have Author status on our website, you can upload a work-in-progress to our website. We will send an email request to everyone on the beta reader list. Frequency and beta-credit limits apply.
Writing Advice
Overcoming Writer’s Block by Mick Sewell
Mick Sewell is the organizer for the Rose City Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers. He published his first short story, Best Hugs on the Planet, in September 2025.
Why am I writing the inaugural advice-writing column? It’s because 2025 Cyber-magi award winner Deborah Sale-Butler suggested adding this section, but not early enough for me to feel good about asking someone else to write it. She’ll be writing it next month…
Give yourself permission to write garbage. You can (and should) edit and revise garbage, but you can’t edit and revise a blank page. Many of our writing events involve sitting in front of your favorite (or tolerable) writing tool and dumping words from your brain. The dumping matters more than the words. It’s rare that a first draft is the same as a final draft—that applies to writers at all levels.
If you’re blocked in a scene, write to yourself about what you wish you could put in the scene. Don’t worry about the dialogue or description. Make a few notes to yourself about the idea and then try to move on to the next scene.
If you’re still blocked, it may be that the previous scene is wrong for the story. I commonly draft half a scene and realize I’m stuck because I’m taking the story in the wrong direction. I delete or archive the broken scene and try again. Each draft is usually better than the last.
Do you honestly think that every sentence you will ever write will be perfect the first time? I hope you don’t, because they won’t be. Allow the imperfect sentences to live (and kill them later).
When I hear popular authors give the advice to “Write! Write! Write!”, I append “Words! Garbage! Anything!”
If you’d like to write the advice column, please send your pen name, topic, and two-sentence bio to rosecity.sff.writers@gmail.com.
Quarterly Social
Book Swap + Lunch Spring Social
April 19, 2026 @ Noon - Brooklyn Carreta - 4534 SE McLoughlin Blvd. - Portland, OR
Come celebrate spring by refreshing your bookshelves and hanging out with fellow writers! Please bring 1-3 science fiction or fantasy books with you (THREE MAXIMUM) that you would like to trade. The number you bring is the number you can grab from the table! We’ll lay them all out so everyone has time to browse, then at 12:30 we’ll do the swap. Anything that doesn’t get swept up (or retrieved by the original owner) will be donated to a local library.
Afterward, stick around for lunch at one of Brooklyn Carreta’s 18 food trucks.
RSVP on Meetup or our website.
https://www.meetup.com/rose-city-science-fiction-and-fantasy-writers/events/313904135
Recurring Meetups
RSVP on Meetup
https://www.meetup.com/rose-city-science-fiction-and-fantasy-writers/events/
Tuesday
Ava Roasteria at Orenco Station @ 11 am
936 NE Orenco Loop, Hillsboro, OR
Wednesday
The Clubhouse @ 5 pm
2365 SW Cedar Hills Blvd, Beaverton, OR
Thursday
Rose City Coffee @ 5 pm
3370 SE Milwaukie Ave, Portland, OR
Friday
Bold Coffee & Books @ 12 pm
1755 SW Jefferson St, Portland, OR
Saturday
Odd Fellows Hall @ 11 am
10282 SE Main St, Milwaukie, OR
Other Event News
Volunteer at Sellwood Community House’s Summer at the Shack!
Remember WinterCon? That lovely venue is the Sellwood Community House, which generously provides us with free space for our annual convention. Let’s return the favor by volunteering to help kids during their annual Summer at the Shack. You can volunteer for as little as one hour or as much time as you’d like—and you get to choose what you’ll do. For example, Mick plans to teach elementary-age kids how to write a science fiction or fantasy story in just five sentences.
https://www.sellwoodcommunityhouse.org/the-shack-at-sellwood-park
Morveling Book Signing
Join C.J. Switzer (Cyber-magi Award winner) for Independent Bookstore Day on Saturday, April 25, at Endless Wonders Books (414 SE 80th Ave) in Portland’s Montavilla neighborhood. Author of the fantasy novel Morvelving, C.J. will be signing books and meeting readers from 3–4pm. Stop by to say hello, chat about writing, and support a fellow member of our writing community!
Request a New Meetup Near You
Don’t see a Meetup in your area when you can make it? Fill out this form so we know where there is enough interest to start another.
Cyber-magi 2026
https://rosecitysff.org/cyber-magi
Volunteering to judge the 2026 Cyber-Magi Award is open! Judging will begin on December 17, 2026.
You’re welcome to submit your first chapter or short story anytime. You can submit updates until the deadline on December 16, 2026.
WinterCon 2027
https://rosecitysff.org/wintercon
Save the date! The next WinterCon will be January 23, 2027 @ 3 pm. Panel submissions are not yet open.