Write into the Week: July 20, 2025

Elle | Community Manager  |  July 20, 2025  | 

“I love writing. I love the swirl and swing of words as they tangle with human emotions.”
–James Michener

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

Writer to Writer: Words as Brushstrokes

Writing is, at its heart, an art of translation—taking the intangible swirl of feeling and thought and rendering it visible. James Michener’s words remind us that language doesn’t just describe emotion; it moves with it. Like a painter choosing colors and brushstrokes, we select words for their weight, their texture, the way they resonate against one another. Depending on your word choice, a single phrase can shimmer like sunlight on water or land with a thud like mud on pavement. 

When we write with emotional effect in mind, we invite the reader not just to understand, but to feel. Think of the words you reach for when you’re most raw, open, and creative. Do they hum like a soft pastel or cut like a sharp line of red? What images emerge when you let language carry and balance emotional weight, instead of containing it?

This week, as you sit down to write, don’t worry about finding the “right” words. Focus instead on the feeling you’re trying to evoke. Let the words tangle, swirl, and spill onto the page until the emotion takes shape.

Writing Prompt

Choose one powerful emotion—joy, grief, longing, awe—and try to paint it with words. Avoid naming the emotion directly. Instead, use sensory detail, imagery, and rhythm to let the feeling emerge naturally.

Ask yourself: If this emotion were a color, what would it look like? If it were a texture, how would it feel against your skin? If it were a sound, what would it echo like? Write a short scene, poem, or flash piece that lets the reader feel the emotion without you ever stating it outright.

Reading Recommendations:

Fiction:

  • “Consider this Case” by Melissa Yancy. This short story “explores the fraught relationship between a gay fetal surgeon and his terminally ill father.” It was selected as the Jeffrey E. Smith Editors’ Prize winner in fiction for 2013. (See below to enter your writing this year!)

Nonfiction:

  • “Local Anesthesia” by Gaison Gill. Blending history and personal memory, this essay moves from ancient Roman remedies to the lingering taste of addiction and family grief.

Poetry:

  • “Less than 0.01%” by Ae Hee Lee. This week’s poem investigates loss, resilience, and renewal. Through the careful naming of prairie plants and the history of the land, it reflects on what vanishes, what survives, and the fragile persistence of beauty.

Listening Recommendations:

  • From The Essential Guide to Writing a Novel Podcast: “How to ruin our story’s first sentences“. A story’s opening line should spark curiosity, nudging the reader to lean in and wonder, What happens now? The best first sentences don’t just begin a story, they pull you headlong into it. In this episode, you’ll explore what makes an opening work (and what makes it fall flat), and then look at how three masterful writers bring their settings to life with unforgettable detail.
  • Something for picture book fans! On YouTube, watch and listen to Kristen Bell read Quackenstein Hatches a Family, written by Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen, and illustrated by Brian T. Jones. 

Publishing Opportunities:

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.

 

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Elle | Community Manager

Elle is a writer and novelist originally from southwestern New York, now residing on the central coast in California. She does not miss the snow even a little bit. As an avid traveler, Elle can frequently be found wandering the globe, having lived in and explored over thirty countries, all while gaining inspiration for her writing and new perspectives on life. Elle is a former educator and Teach for America alumna, having taught in Los Angeles, Baltimore and Boston. She holds a B.A. in English Literature and Creative Writing from George Mason University and a M.A. in Education and Curriculum Design from Johns Hopkins University. She is passionate about well-crafted sentences and memorable metaphors. Elle is currently at work on a novel and a collection of personal essays.

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