02/22/2026 ‑ Greetings one and all from Curious Penman! It was that time of the year again, where local writers, poets, and storytellers get together and share their passion with interested participants at ScribbleCon, a writing event that welcomes students of all levels and anyone who loves writing. ScribbleCon26 was held at Benton Middle School on Saturday, February 21, 2026, and it was a blast!

ScribbleCon26 waiting to start

The conference began with a keynote address. Mary Rook, former publisher and contributor to “Neighbors of Historic Manassas”, copywriter, marketer, and published poet who shared insights from her years in attending industry webinars, and studying the craft through books and videos.

Mary Rook gave the keynote speech

Curious Penman introduced a new workshop, “Hip Hop Poetry,” which talked about blending self-expression with cool rhythms and beats. He also brought back his crime fiction workshop, “Crime Tech: The Techniques and Technology of Crime Fiction,” about the methods and tools used in crime and crime solving.

Mike engaging listeners for Crime Tech

The Hip Hop workshop offered pointers on how to write cool poetry, while the Crime Tech workshop showed participants how to structure a fun, believable crime story. John Dutton of Spilled Ink VA presented a workshop on how to write adventure fiction, and Nick Kelly held a workshop on secondary characters, just to name a few of the 12 learning experiences to be had. Other workshops included topics in epistolary fiction, script writing, rules of writing magic, pitching your story, and more.

ScribbleCon also had tables for local authors to promote and sell their literary wares.

Curious Penman and his wares

Closing out ScribbleCon26 was the open mic session where conference goers had an opportunity to entertain the crowd with their stories.

Two writers presented their epistolary effort

We here at Curious Penman certainly look forward to next year!

Catch y’all on the flip side!

#WriteTheWrongsforCrimeFiction!