Write into the Week: June 8, 2025

Elle LaMarca | June 8, 2025 |

“You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.”
–Maya Angelou

Dear Writer,

I hope you’re having a good start to your week. In this newsletter:

A writing prompt to inspire your creativity.
Reading and listening recommendations in fiction, nonfiction, and poetry.
Publishing, residency, and retreat opportunities available now.
Join our free Monday and Friday write-ins, and meet our community of writers.

Happy writing this week!

—Elle, Curriculum Specialist & Community Manager

Writing Prompt

What’s it worth? What’s the cost? Make a list of things you (or a character) are willing to work hard for, and a second list of things that are no longer worth the effort. Let a piece of writing evolve out of that contrast.

From Writer to Writer: The Weight of What We Carry

As writers, we’re always carrying something—memories, images, questions, regrets, longings. Sometimes they show up clearly on the page, but often, especially in first drafts, they hover just out of reach. Part of the work is noticing what we’re carrying and deciding what belongs in the work—and what doesn’t.

This week, try choosing one piece you’ve been working on—a draft, a scene, a poem—and pause to ask: What am I carrying here? What have I put on the page, and what am I still holding back? Use this as a revision lens: consider what you might set down (words, details, tangents) to lighten the piece, and what deeper truth or image you’re ready to bring forward.

Reading Recommendations:

Fiction:

“Charlotte and the Glass of Wine” by Laura Leigh Morris. This flash fiction piece follows one mother’s surreal, wine-fueled escape—drawn literally in lipstick—as she navigates exhaustion, longing, and the blurred boundaries between freedom and responsibility.

Nonfiction:

“Where the Mile-Long Blazers Fly” by Sarah E. Ruhlen. This essay braids childhood adventure, family grief, and the quiet devastations of girlhood into a narrative that moves between past and present with sharp clarity.

Poetry:

A Folio of Poetry by Brian McCabe. A collection of fifteen poems by New York City teacher and poet, Brian McCabe. Enjoy his mastery of word choice, imagery, and purposeful explorations in form.

Listening Recommendations:

From The Poetry Lab Podcast: “Self-Care for Writers: Finding Calm When the World Feels Overwhelming“. This episode is full of self-care tools to help writers stay grounded and creative, even in chaotic times. Learn how to check in with yourself, calm your mind, and build a self-care routine that actually works.

Publishing Opportunities:

Room Magazine – Submissions: Open/Rolling for Issue 49.1: Science. Seeking poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and art. Send works “that savour curiosity, question orthodoxy, dig into hidden histories, and titrate, examine, hypothesize, queer, and dream our way to wilder futures.”
Craft Literary First Chapters Contest– Submission Window: June 8-August, 10, 2025. The First Chapters Contest is “designed to reward and encourage the diligent novelist. Your novel need not be complete for you to enter your first chapters into this summer contest.” The winner receives a $2,000 award, publication, and a full manuscript critique.

Monday and Friday: Free Group Writing Sessions

Come write with us! Community write-ins are a great way to meet other writers, and carve out space in your calendar for your writing.

Monday: Write Into the Week with Elle

Join me (Elle) for an hour of mindset support, goal setting, community, and dedicated time to write! We’ll meet on Monday at 11 AM Eastern time, at this Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83999379617

Friday: Open Write-In

Join the Writers.com staff for a 90-minute writing session each Friday from 11 AM to 12:30 PM Eastern time. We will write together for the first hour. In the last, optional half hour, we’ll share our writing with one another and connect.

To add yourself, join our newsletter using the join box above, and add yourself to the “Friday Write-Ins” list at the bottom of any email. We’ll send you a Zoom link the morning of the call.

Join us on Instagram for more writing inspiration!

We’re sharing writing tips, creative prompts, and a steady stream of encouragement—follow us @writersdotcom. Click below to check out one of our latest posts on writing creative nonfiction.

Posted in: Write into the Week

Elle LaMarca

Elle LaMarca is a writer, novelist, and curriculum specialist at Writers.com, where she develops new courses in all genres, and teaches courses on creative mindset and sustainable writing practices. She also writes the weekly Write into the Week newsletter and hosts the accompanying Monday live sessions, where writers gather to set intentions, write in community, and begin their creative week with momentum. Originally from the Buffalo, New York area, Elle now splits her time between Kailua, Hawai‘i and the Netherlands. An avid traveler, she has lived in and explored more than 40 countries, experiences that continue to shape both her storytelling and her perspective on creative life. Before joining Writers.com, Elle worked as an educator and curriculum designer through Teach for America, teaching in Los Angeles, Baltimore, and Boston. She holds a B.A. in English Literature and Creative Writing from George Mason University and an M.A. in Education from Johns Hopkins University. Elle is passionate about well-crafted sentences, memorable metaphors, and helping writers build a steadier relationship with their creative work. She is currently at work on a novel about the complexities of female friendship and a collection of personal essays about creativity, travel, and the search for belonging.