Write into the Week: May 3, 2026

“Poetry might be defined as the clear expression of mixed feelings.”
–W.H. Auden

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: Mixed Emotions

Upon first reading, I was instantly attracted to the idea in this week’s quote by 20th-century poet W.H. Auden. He specifically references poetry, but I think most creative writing could also “be defined as the clear expression of mixed feelings.”

Above all else, to me, writing is truth—regardless of whether you’re writing poetry, nonfiction, or fiction. However, the truth is often complicated. Some of us write seeking answers, others write to form more questions, but there’s a desire to seek and understand in all of it.

Auden’s quote is a good reminder that the most honest feelings are rarely tidy. They don’t arrive neatly labeled, ready to be placed on the appropriate shelf inside your mind. They come all tangled up together: affection threaded with irritation, grief softened by relief, or envy cozying up beside admiration. Often the feeling we admit to first isn’t close to the whole truth. It’s just the easier or safer truth to say out loud.

Just like in life, on the page, writers often feel a pull to make emotions neat and clean, this or that, one thing or the other. We want scenes with clear intentions, and characters to have known desires. But, as a reader, the moments I feel are most alive in writing are often the ones that haven’t been forced into a single meaning. Isn’t that where the drama and conflict truly emerge? A character can love someone and still want to escape them. An essay can hold both forgiveness and revenge. A poem can celebrate the world while grieving it.

The goal of writing shouldn’t be to resolve those contradictions, but to write them clearly enough that a reader can feel the tension. Let the mixed feelings remain mixed, without turning them into confusion. That’s where Auden’s phrasing feels so powerful to me. It’s not about the tidy expression of neat feelings, but the clear expression of mixed ones. The clarity comes from telling the truth about the mess—not from pretending the mess isn’t there. (And, oh, how I love to make a mess in my writing!)

This week, you might look for the place in your writing where you’ve made something a little too simple, too clear, packaged too nicely. Where have you chosen one emotion when two or three are actually present? Where have you smoothed over a contradiction that might make the piece more human?

If all that smoothing out left the piece feeling a bit flat, maybe, let some complications back in. Give yourself the permission to be a little messy. It may be exactly what the writing needs.

Writing Prompt: Transformation

Write a piece in which a person is feeling two conflicting emotions at the same time.

Start with a moment that seems clear on the surface. It could be a goodbye, celebration, reunion, or a quiet morning—but allow another feeling to exist just beneath the surface. Let both emotions remain present throughout the piece.

Avoid choosing one over the other. Instead, let the emotions interact. Let them complicate the scene. Let them get messy with each other! (Seriously, be dramatic. Do more, and you can edit down to less later!)

How do these feelings show up in the body? In dialogue? In what’s said vs what’s avoided?

The goal isn’t to resolve the contradiction, but to made take the turmoil clear to a reader. 

Reading Recommendations: Substack Edition

• “5 Great Novel Beginnings: What Makes a First Chapter Work” from The Caffeinated Writer Substack. Author Michelle takes you through five novel beginnings, including ones by Lydia Netzer and Virginia Wolf, and discusses what made them so compelling.  
• “why you should start writing a column about your own life in 2026” from The Stories Club Substack. Fellow writer Lina discusses the ins and outs of writing about your life, and why that’s often so appealing to readers. 
• “The Myth of the Creative Genius Plucked Out of Obscurity” from the Hanna is Spiraling Substack. Artist Hannah dives into the interesting topic of creative obscurity, artistic success and the legacies we leave behind.

Listening Recommendations

• From Always Take Notes podcast – “Lauren Groff on book bans, artificial intelligence and what novels set in the past reveal about the present” – Hosts Rachel and Simon speak with novelist and short-story writer Lauren Groff. Groff is the bestselling author of the novels “The Monsters of Templeton” and “Arcadia”, and the short-story collections “Delicate Edible Birds” and “Florida”. Several of her publications were finalists for the National Book Award. In 2024 Groff opened a bookshop in Florida, which has an emphasis on books that are currently challenged or banned in the state.
• From the Memoir Nation podcast – “Caroline Paul on the Tension Between Obsession and Letting Go” – Bestselling author Caroline Paul discusses how at the heart of many memoirs are stories of people throwing themselves into meaningful distractions in order to not have to face the challenges and unravellings so common to adult life. This episode talks about risk, about love and loss, and about the things that keep us grounded—and not.

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.
• 2026 PI Prize – Submission Deadline: May 31, 2026. The Poetry International Prize sponsored by Poetry International awards a cash prize of $1000 and publication for a single poem of any length. Submit up to 3 poems with a $15 entry fee. You may submit additional poems for a $3 reading fee per poem. All entries are considered for publication. 
• The Baltimore Review’s Summer Contest– Submission Deadline: May 31, 2026. Open call for submissions of prose poem, flash fiction and flash creative nonfiction for The Baltimore Review’s Summer Contest. All entries will be considered for publication in their regular issues, and winners will each receive $400. There is an $8 entry fee. 
• Red Hen Press – Submission Deadline: Rolling. Red Hen Press is an independent, nonprofit press that publishes about twenty-five books of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry every year. They’re looking for novels, memoirs, creative nonfiction, hybrid works, essays, and poetry collections of exceptional literary merit that demonstrate a high level of mastery. The accept unsolicited and unagented submissions! 

Residency, Retreat, & Fellowship Opportunities:

• 2026 Whiting Nonfiction Grant for Works-in-Progress – Application Deadline: May 31, 2026. The 2026 Whiting Nonfiction Grant for works in progress of $40,000 will be awarded to ten writers completing a deeply researched and imaginatively composed book-length work of nonfiction. The grant supports multiyear projects at crucial mid-process stage. Please review the application details to determine if your work aligns. 
• Chateau Orquevaux Artists & Writers Residency – Application Deadline: June 15, 2026. This is a partially funding residency in France. Spend two weeks living, dining, and writing with other writers and artists in a picturesque setting!
• PEN America Literary Grants – Application Deadline: June 15, 2026. Applications are currently open for PEN America’s annual liteary grants. The PEN America Literary Awards, Grants, and Fellowships Program has honored many of the most outstanding voices in literature across diverse genres, including fiction, poetry, nonfiction, children’s literature, translation, and drama. Please review the application details to see if your work aligns. 

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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