Write into the Week: September 7, 2025

Elle | Community Manager  |  September 8, 2025  | 

“The beginning is always today.”
–Mary Shelley

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: Begin Again (and Again)

You don’t have to wait for the perfect idea or a fully-formed plan to start writing. Every writing session is a chance to begin. Again and again. Whether you’re starting a new project or returning to something half-finished, you’re stepping into a creative lineage of people who chose to begin, often before they were ready.

Writers of all genres create origin stories. A poem that traces the evolution of a name. A personal essay about how a lifelong habit took root. A novel that rewinds time to the moment it all began. We are always, in some way, circling back to beginnings—real or imagined, literal or metaphorical.

So here’s your reminder for the (everyday this) week: the beginning is today. Even if you’ve started before. Heck, especially if you’ve started before!

Writing Prompt

Write your own creation myth. It can be grand, fantastical or totally mundane. Maybe it’s the birth of the universe, or the origin of your coffee addiction. (Actually, I might do that one!) You can use any genre or container, and be as literal or metaphoric as you like. Simply detail how something began.

Reading Recommendations:

Fiction:

  • “Nojento” by Stephanie Early Green. A summer camp counselor with a harrowing past forges an unlikely connection with an eccentric camper, sparking a quiet reckoning with shame, and resilience.

Poetry:

Nonfiction:

  • “Witnessing” by Bruce Benway. This essay is a poignant exploration of how we come to understand other people’s inner lives. Benway reflects on witnessing not just in the religious sense, but as a way of noticing, and connecting with the world around him.

Listening Recommendations:

  • From The Daily Podcast: “Sunday Special: The Books We Read in School” – As kids across America head back to school, Gilbert Cruz, the editor of The New York Times Book Review, is thinking about the books he read when he was in school.
  • From the Poetry on the Shelf Podcast: “Sleep and Surrender” – Drew Ackerman, the creator and host of the famed bedtime story podcast, Sleep with Me, talks about insomnia, late-night radio, and soothing his inner cynic.

Publishing Opportunities:

  • Literary Cleveland and Gordon Square Review – Submission Deadline: September 30, 2025. Seeking submissions of poetry, short fiction, and short nonfiction. They pay selected contributors!
  • The Yale Review – Submission Deadline: September 30, 2025. Seeking submissions of poetry, fiction, essays, and translations.

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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