Write into the Week: November 23, 2025

Elle | Community Manager  |  November 22, 2025  | 

“Memory is the sense of having been loved.”
–Marilynne Robinson

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: Thanksgiving Family Histories

Thanksgiving week has a way of stirring up stories we didn’t plan to tell, or possibly even remember. Whether your holiday is full of family, a friendsgiving, or a solo weekend with takeout and a good book, this time of year tends to loosen things up in our hearts and minds. Old rituals resurface, past versions of ourselves come to the table, and we might slip right back into our familiar roles without realizing it. And sometimes we notice the moment that role no longer fits.

Holidays provide such rich narrative ground because they compress time. The past and present crowd into the same room, along with your extended family and old friends. The way someone carves the turkey, the chair an aunt refuses to sit in, the joke everyone laughs at except the person it’s really about—these tiny things hold so much story. They can reveal longstanding tensions, deep-rooted love, unspoken grief, or unexpected joy. They remind us that family (biological or chosen) is one of the oldest story structures we have: full of patterns, conflicts, traditions, and inheritances.

This week, pay attention to the small details—the objects, gestures, and pauses that belong only to you and your people. Look closely at the things you’ve observed since you were young, and the ones you’re only now learning to see. There’s material everywhere, and not because it’s dramatic, but because it’s real and true.

Writing Prompt:

Write a scene or poem set during a Thanksgiving—real, remembered, or imagined—where something small shifts and tilts the room. It doesn’t have to be dramatic. Actually, let it be ordinary. Consider the way someone sets a table, a comment mumbled under the breath, a glance held a beat too long between in-laws, a tension no one will talk about, or a person missing from dinner.

Use that small change as the scene’s hinge. What does it stir? What tension does it expose? What tenderness does it reveal? Follow the ripple of emotions as they move through the room. 

Let the focus be on this quiet turning point, the moment when a family story (or a personal one) shifts. What happens next? 

Reading Recommendations: Thanksgiving Edition

Read how different writers in different genres write about the holiday and season. Some happy, some sad, lots of nostalgia, and, of course, food!

Listening Recommendations:

  • From Poetry Off the Shelf Podcast: “In the Middle of Dinner” – This short episode is filled with poems of food and family, tenderness and Thanksgiving.
  • From the Storybound Podcast “Ruth Reichl Reads a Thanksgiving Story” – Legendary food writer Ruth Reichl shares a series of warm, funny, deeply human Thanksgiving stories. Whether your plans look familiar or entirely different this year, her voice offers comfort and good company while you chop onions. 

Publishing Opportunities:

  • Variant Literature – Entry Deadline: December 4, 2025. Accepting submissions of poetry, flash prose, and fiction for their Winter 2026 edition. Less than two weeks left! 
  • Boulevard Literary Magazine’s Short Fiction Contest – Entry Deadline: December 31, 2025. This contest is for emerging writers! Boulevard is accepting submissions of short fiction (up to 8,000 words) from any writer who has not published a nationally distributed book. The winning entry will receive $1,500, and all entrants will receive a print subscription to the magazine.
  • Allium, a Journal of Poetry and Prose – Submission Deadline: February 15, 2026. Accepting submissions for poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction, for consider for three upcoming issues. They do accept simultaneous submissions. 

Residency & Retreat Opportunities: 

  • The Summer Conference at the Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing (MVICW) – Submission Deadline: January 19, 2026 – Option to apply to one of two one-week long creative writing intensives. From their website: MVICW brings together writers from around the world with the central belief that we can all learn from one another. Our program offers week-long classes on the craft of fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction, evening readings, panel discussions, and individualized manuscript sessions. Attendees study with award-winning Visiting Authors & Poets and celebrate writing on the beautiful island of Martha’s Vineyard. 

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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