The Gail Eastwood

Inkwells

Program
View FAQs See Application

In January 2026, Regency Fiction Writers lost a friend and a dedicated RFW member. Gail Eastwood loved the Regency period, proved a talented writer, a faithful leader, and true compatriot.

The 2026 RFW Board voted to honor her by giving her name to a program which exemplified her in many ways: The Inkwells program. 

The Gail Eastwood Inkwells Program

One of the most powerful motivators for a writer is a supportive community that understands their work, challenges, and goals. Inkwells is an RFW program that strives to knit writers into small communities that provide mutual support, sharing in both the struggles and triumphs of one another as they make the writer journey together. The addition of Gail Eastwood’s name to the program celebrates the life of a woman whose mission was to connect sometimes isolated writers into a larger
community.

When a matching round is open for submissions, you will find an application form below. Application submissions will be used to assign groups by the end of December.

Once groups have been formed, RFW will provide guidance to the groups for self-determining the activities of the group and the frequency/method of meeting. Groups will be autonomous from RFW, but RFW will address questions or concerns.

Thank you for your interest!

If you have questions or concerns, please contact RFW’s Communications Director.

The next round for applications will open in November 2026.

The current round for applications is open
until 11:59 pm on November 30th, 2026.

Inkwells

Frequently Asked Questions

A Regency Romance Writer

Gail Eastwood began publishing Regency romances with Signet in the early 1990s after a successful decades-long career as a journalist. Her first book, A Perilous Journey, was recognized with several honors, including The Golden Leaf Award for Best Regency in 1994, and was acclaimed by Mary Balogh as “…heart-warming, intelligent, and wonderfully romantic.”

Her subsequent books with Signet were nominated for numerous awards, and for two years in a row Gail was one of Romantic Times magazine’s nominees for Career Achievement in the Regency category. In the 2010s, she crafted a successful self-publishing career, issuing four books in the Little Macclow series, including the Maggie Award finalist Lord of Misrule. The fifth, a prequel tentatively titled Lady Anne’s Choice, was close to completion when she passed away unexpectedly.

A Committed Leader

Gail was a founding member of the Beau Monde (the previous incarnation of Regency Fiction Writers) and a leader in RFW. Over the years, she held more than one Board position of the Beau Monde and the Regency Fiction Writers.

An Advocate for Regency History

An avid researcher and educator, Gail taught ‘Writing the Romance’ for Brown University, and continued to teach writing, serve as an inspirational critique partner, and coached many other writers during her long career. Her capstone project, Writing Regency England: A Resource for Authors (2023, co-written with Jayne Davis) will long serve as the definitive guide for writers wishing to ensure their portrayal of this period is historically accurate and informed.

A Support for Writers

Gail never shied away from giving writers insightful, detailed feedback on their writing, she managed to do so with infinite kindness and care, with her critique partners and colleagues as well as on our RFW forums. She serves as the ideal model for RFW’s Inkwells program bringing writers together.

The next application period will be announced to the membership in advance.

How each individual group works is up to the members of that group. RFW will provide guidance to the groups, but they are autonomous.

The basic types of groups mentioned in the application are defined as follows:

Support Group: These groups meet to discuss the experience of writing, to share their favorite strategies, to talk through their challenges, to provide emotional support in the writing process, etc.

Working Accountability Group: Members meet in a shared virtual space and they write while they’re together. They keep each other accountable by showing up to work and expecting others to do the same.

Virtual Accountability Group: Members work independently but have a system for regular progress updates to the group.

This is something that will be determined by individuals and their groups.

These groups were envisioned as a way for members to connect with and support each other, so lurking is probably not an effective way to give or receive support from the group.

Check your spam or junk folders for an email from communications@regencyfictionwriters.org. If you still can’t find it, contact the RFW Communications Director.