Sign up for our first Teal Deer Open Mic Night: Jan 10

TL;DR: We’re hosting an open mic night every month starting Thursday, January 10 starting at 6 pm PST/9 pm EST. Sign up below to read your work on our Discord!

We’re starting the new year with a community event to help you share your work: Teal Deer Open Mic Nights!

After a rousing success of a test run in November, we’ve decided to make Teal Deer (t-l-d-r… get it?) Open Mic Nights a monthly occasion. Get together with our community to read your work (more on that below) or just pop in to listen to writers give live reading a try!

Sign up with our Google Form to read on Thursday, January 10 starting at 6 pm PST/9 pm EST!

(We will have alternate events at different time zones to accommodate writers around the world, stay tuned!)

How we run the Teal Deer Open Mic Nights

We host the open mic on our Discord server (here’s the invite link!). Everyone who wants to read must fill out the Google Form so that the hosts can make the lineup list. It’s first come, first serve!

The event will begin on Discord in the voice chat (NOT the text chat). You can access discord on your computer or phone, and typically the phone app works very well.

If you are reading: Make sure you have a strong internet connection, quiet place, and a clear sounding mic. The hosts will introduce the evening’s writers and invite everyone to turn off their mics when a writer is going to read. If the writer has indicated in the Google Form that they’d like feedback, the floor is open for 5 minutes of discussion. If they haven’t, a quick congratulations from the hosts/listeners will follow before moving on to the next reader.

We will make every effort to include all who applied to read their piece. If we run out of time, anyone who did not get a chance to read get first dibs for the next month’s event.

Please note that graphic depictions of sex or violence in your shared work are not accepted for this particular event. If you’re not sure if your piece can be read, email tldrpress@gmail.com with your work and we will review and let you know!

Share the news!

Let your writing friends know about our community event! We loved hosting our first test night and with only a few hours notice we have a dozen awesome community members listen and share their work. We’re hoping for a great turn out and lots of writing shared!

FAQs

What can I bring to read?

We’re accepting any work that can be read in 5 minutes or fewer (we’ll have a timekeeper who will help you stay on track).

If you don’t know whether or not a work of your format can be read, email tldrpress@gmail.com with your work and we will review and let you know!

*You may introduce an excerpt of longer fiction with context of the larger story, but it will eat into your 5 minute reading time.

How does the feedback work?

At the beginning of each open mic, the hosts share guidelines for feedback:

• Listen carefully to the piece and mute your mic while the person is reading their piece aloud.
• Whether a person has asked for feedback or not, reading pieces out loud can feel scary! Keep this in mind when reacting to a piece.
• If a reader has not asked for feedback, do not suggest constructive feedback.
• Provide clear and as constructive feedback as you can. Go deeper than “I like/loved/enjoyed” and “I didn’t like/hated” if you can to provide something that the reader can use to strengthen their piece.
• If you didn’t understand something in the reading, that’s okay! Pointing it out might help the writer see past their author lens.
• Try to keep an open mind and don’t assume a piece is badly written if it doesn’t appeal to your tastes.
• It’s okay not to have anything constructive to say. Think about the sorts of feedback you’d find helpful as a writer and work from there if you can’t think of anything.

Does my work need to be complete to read?

Your work needs to be readable, but since reading can be part of the editing/workshopping process we don’t expect every piece to be publish-ready. We recommend reading over your piece a few times to yourself to practice. Timing yourself while you practice is also a great way to know how much you’ll be able to share.

Can I participate if I don’t want to read?

Yes! Please join us whether or not you want to read. We love having a big, supportive group to listen and give readers feedback!