Write into the Week: April 18, 2026

“I think that listening is an expression of love and that telling someone your story is an act of generosity.”
–Elias Khoury

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: First Loves

I’ve been thinking lately about creative first loves. Not the polished work we’re doing now, or the goals we’ve set for ourselves as writers, but the very beginning. The moment something in us recognized that words could do more than communicate—they could create.

For me, that realization came early. As soon as I learned to read and write, I understood that words were my tool, my medium, my gift. I loved that I could take these small, ordinary things—words—and arrange them like puzzle pieces into something entirely my own. Building sentences into a story, or developing an entirely new world, it felt like a kind of magic. I was a bit of a lonely kid, and writing gave me a way to build company out of imagination. If I could create characters and settings on the page, I never had to be truly alone.

But there was something else, too. A second part to my creative first love that was rooted not in creation, but in connection.

When I was nine or ten, I read Just as Long as We’re Together by Judy Blume, and it forever altered me. The story follows three best friends navigating the complicated terrains of puberty and middle school, and even now, decades later, it remains my personal benchmark for friendship. I was desperate for that kind of connection—the kind that felt deep, loyal, and understood—and somehow, through Blume’s words, I felt seen.

That experience stayed with me. Because what struck me, even then, was this: those girls weren’t real. Blume made them up. Yet they reached me, a little girl in a small town in Falconer, New York, and made me feel less alone.

That’s powerful.

I think, in some way, that’s what so many of us are still chasing on the page. The ability to create something from nothing—and, through that creation, to reach someone else. To say, you’re not alone in this.

Writing Prompt: Your Creative Origin Story

Reflection on and reconnecting with your creative origin story can help remind you why devote time, energy and vulnerability to writing. 

So, this week, I’d like to encourage you to answer this: What made you fall in love with writing in the first place? What was your first experience of creating something out of words? When did you first feel seen by a piece of writing, or realize that you could offer that feeling to someone else?

A Poem to Ponder: Where I’m From by George Ella Lyon

I am from clothespins,

from Clorox and carbon-tetrachloride.

I am from the dirt under the back porch.

(Black, glistening,

it tasted like beets.)

I am from the forsythia bush

the Dutch elm

whose long-gone limbs I remember

as if they were my own.

Continue reading the full poem here. This poem is an origin story. It’s not about where someone is from geographically, but what they’re made of—he objects, sounds, phrases, and small details that shape the narrator’s early life.

What makes this poem so powerful is its specificity and personal details. There no generalizing or explaining. Instead, it builds identity through images and fragments, through the things that might seem ordinary on their own, but together create something deeply personal, yet universally resonate.

This poem is also a reminder that our stories often begin in small places: in childhood, in memory, in the language we grew up hearing. The roots of our creative lives are often embedded inside these details.

As you read, you might ponder:

• What details does the poet use to build a sense of identity?
• How do specific images create something larger and more meaningful?
• What feels personal to the speaker, yet universal to the reader?
• What small, ordinary details tell the story of where you come from? (Write your own!)

Listening Recommendations

• From Poetry on the Shelf podcast – “A Handful of Dust” – Host Helena de Groot talks to poets about language, dreams, love and loss, identity, connection, anger, discomfort, the creative process, the state of the world and the world of the soul. This episode features author Iain McGilchrist, who discusses Rip Van Winkle, the poet’s brain, and the real word for sunshine.
• From The New Yorker: The Writer’s Voice podcast – “Thomas McGuane Reads ‘Ordinary Wear and Tear'” – In this episode, Thomas McGuane reads his story “Ordinary Wear and Tear,” from the April 27, 2026, issue of The New Yorker. McGuane has published more than a dozen books of fiction, including the story collections Gallatin Canyon, Crow Fair, and A Wooded Shore.

Publishing Opportunities:

• The Poetry Lighthouse – Submission Deadline: May 15, 2026. Open call for submissions of original poetry, flash fiction, essays, and poetry manuscripts. Please review the submission guidelines via the website for more details.  
• Literally Lit Magazine – Submission Deadline: May 15, 2026. Seeking submissions of high-quality fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, and essays that will leave a lasting impression on their intelligent readers. Often looking for work that touches upon the topics of femininity, womanhood, identity, empowerment, and/or pop culture.

Residency, Retreat, & Fellowship Opportunities:

• MarthaMOCA Artist Residecy – Application Deadline: April 30, 2026. MarthaMOCA provides one-month residencies for artists of all disciplines. Residents are given use of a fully furnished private live/work space- with a studio, bathroom, & kitchen on the ground floor and a lofted bedroom and living space above. The residency comes with a $500 stipend. Residents are free to enjoy our 40 acre property; with walking paths through the woods, a tranquil pond, lap pool when in season, and garden.
• The Kathleen Whittaker Writing Fellowship – Application Deadline: May 14, 2026. Offered through the Ragdale artist community, The Kathleen Whittaker Writing Fellowship is awarded to an outstanding writer working on a new work of fiction or nonfiction. Fellows receive full funding for their 18-day residency, a stipend, uninterrupted time, a live/work space, weeknight communal dinners, and the camaraderie of the other committed and passionate residents and fellows at Ragdale. 

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.

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