About Us

Craft. Community. Creative Momentum.

The Practice of Writing (TPOW) is a home for writers who want depth, clarity, curiosity, and companionship in their creative lives. Founded by Leah Scott-Kirby and Nina Barufaldi, two Stonecoast MFA writers who believe in the alchemy of showing up, we create spaces where writers at every stage can stretch, experiment, and feel genuinely supported.

We teach high-touch, craft-centered classes, host community events, and share weekly craft essays designed to nurture both your technique and your voice. Whether you are polishing a novel, diving into flash, or returning to writing after years away, we are here for the messy middle and the quiet breakthroughs.

Our work lives at the intersection of
craft rigor plus creative play plus community connection.

We believe writing gets better and more joyful when we do it together.

Our Story

The Practice of Writing began the way many good things do. Two writers sat down, started talking about craft, and realized they wanted a space where writing felt both serious and alive -- a space where they could play! A space where writers could show up exactly as they are. A space for curiosity, depth, experiments, and delightful mess.

Leah and Nina met in 2022 during their MFA at the Stonecoast program and quickly became close friends. Kindred spirits. Twin flames. They bonded over long conversations about stories, structure, and the small magic that happens when writers feel genuinely supported. After graduation, they kept finding themselves searching for a community that cared about craft in a real way. Not rushed. Not overwhelming. Not prescriptive.

Just thoughtful, playful, and grounded.

So they built it.

TPOW started with a single idea. Writing works better when we practice together. From there, it grew into classes, newsletters, craft sessions, flash clubs, and a community of writers who return again and again because something here feels good. Honest. Nourishing.

We're so happy you found us. Now let's get writing!

Meet The Team

Nina Barufaldi

Co-Founder (she/her)

🌸 Nina Barufaldi knows her name can be a mouthful, so she prefers to be just plain Nina or Nina from Maine—like the friend sitting next to you on a swing at the playground, sharing ideas and stories.

Nina holds an MFA in creative writing, was longlisted for the American Short(er) Story Prize in 2021 and the First Pages Prize for non-fiction in 2023, and was recently accepted into the Chateau D’Orquevaux Artist Residency in France.

A multi-genre writer, Nina finds that in fiction and non-fiction, she’s often obscuring or skirting the truth—or downright lying. But poetry? Poetry is where she goes to confront the truths her other writing hides.

🌿 This delicate volley between truth and storytelling is something she brings into her teaching, guiding students to explore the blurred lines of their own creative process.

💡

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Leah Scott-Kirby

Co-Founder (she/her)

Leah Scott-Kirby is a writer and artist based in South Lake Tahoe, California.

She writes fiction and hybrid work that live in the overlap between memory, emotion, and the strange corners of everyday life. Her stories often sit at the threshold between the real and the surreal, exploring how people love, grieve, hide, and make meaning in the world. She has a particular soft spot for humor in dark places and for the odd, uncanny details that reveal more than they seem.

As a teacher, Leah focuses on what’s alive inside a character and inside a room (even the inanimate objects). She works through the senses—what the body knows before the mind does—and uses that awareness to help writers build emotional truth on the page. Her approach blends introspection, play, and a belief that writing is both a tool for understanding life and a way to open new ways of seeing it.

She holds a BA in Literature from UC Santa Barbara and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Southern Maine.

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