The official blog of Denise M. Baran-Unland, author. Discover her books for all ages at bryonyseries.com.
On September 25, 2025, WriteOn Joliet held its first open mic night at Critical Grind in Shorewood.
Charter member Duanne Walton emceed and videotaped the entire event.
Here is the video to the final rounds of short performances, which includes some spontaneous readings from WriteOn Joliet's 2023 radio play.
Enjoy!
On September 25, 2025, WriteOn Joliet held its first open mic night at Critical Grind in Shorewood.
Charter member Duanne Walton emceed and videotaped the entire event.
Here is the video to the second half hour of short performances.
Enjoy!
On September 25, 2025, WriteOn Joliet held its first open mic night at Critical Grind in Shorewood.
Charter member Duanne Walton emceed and videotaped the entire event.
Here is the video to the first half hour of short performances.
Enjoy!
On September 25, WriteOn Joliet held its first (and only) open mic at event for 2025 at Critical Grind Board Game Cafe in Shorewood.
It was also our first mic event since 2023 - and we held two that fall, shortly before the Book and Bean Cafe in Joliet closed - and we're thrilled to have found a new cafe home.
Critical Grind hosts a writer meetup on alternating Saturdays called Inkwells and Espresso, which WriteOn members have attended from the event's inception in early 2024.
WriteOn Joliet Charter Member Duanne Walton served as emcee at this first open mic at Critical Find and read some of his stream of consciousness works.
Ed Calkins, Steward of Tara, gave a dramatic recitation of his original poem.
Steve Cordin read an original crime thriller short story.
Holly Coop read her inspirational poetry.
Danny read some of his micro fiction.
Guest Nancy Calkins shared intriguing stories from her career as an art teacher.
Diana Estell gave a dramatic performance of original poetry.
Mauverneen Blevins read original poetry.
Our guest Chloe shared original poetry.
Barbara Eberhard, organizer of "Stories R Us" read original poetry.
"Stories R Us" takes place at 6:30 p.m. every third Wednesday at Nik & Ivy Brewing in Lockport.
And Duanne and I reprised his piece (from the same radio play): "The Beast of Venice Pier."
And somewhere in the mix, I read part of "A Little Wine for Your Stomach, Part Two" from the BryonySeries novel "The Phoenix."
But alas, no photo exists of that reading since I was the one (overall) taking the photos (Timothy caught this one of Duanne and me).
So here's a glass of wine instead, one of my "teaser" photos for "The Phoenix."
Happy Thursday!
WriteOn Joliet started offering its open mic nights in the fall of 2013, when my former co-leader Tom Hernandez (who passed from brain cancer in 2024) decided we should be sharing our works publicly with the community.
We typically held them twice a year at the former Book and Bean Cafe inside the Joliet Public Cafe, with WriteOn Joliet's last open mic in 2023, because the Book and Bean Cafe closed at the end of the year.
With the closing of Book and Bean, WriteOn (along with many other groups) lost a wonderful community gathering space.
But approximately six months later, Critical Grind Board Game Cafe in Shoreood started hosting a twice monthly writers meetup called Inkwells and Espresso.
I was working for the first one but popped in to show support. The owner told me I was the only one who attended.
So I started sharing the information with WriteOn. And our writers started coming out, which attracted more writers, a few who also starated coming to WriteOn Joliet meetings for added support.
And now, WriteOn Joliet will host its first open mic at Critcal Grind from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Sept. 25. Local writers will read short pieces (three to five minutes) of original works in all genres.
WriteOn members will have an opportunity to signup in advance.
The community may sign up on a first come, first serve basis starting at 5:30 p.m.
We will give away a 2024 WriteOn Joliet anthology and have additional anthologies (2017 to present plus the "cheetah" anthology) for sale.
We will also have information about WriteOn Joliet's annual anthology release party on Dec. 4.
We will have information about WriteOn, along with individual WriteOn authors.
Admission is the price of any drink or snack from the cafe.
Come out to read, come out to be entertained.
Questions?
Email us at writeonjolietgroup.com.
Hope to see you there!
