Write into the Week: April 13, 2025
Elle LaMarca | April 14, 2025 |
“The world isn’t just the way it is. It’s how we understand it. And in understanding something, we bring something to it.”
–Ian McEwan
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 Friday write-in, and meet our community of writers.
Happy writing this week!
—Elle, Curriculum Specialist & Community Manager
Writing Prompt
Write about a moment when your (or a character’s) understanding of a person, place, or memory shifted—suddenly or over time. How did the story you were telling yourself change, and what truth emerged in its place? Think and write in emotion and sensory details.
Reading Recommendations:
On Writing Fiction:
- “Sally Rooney on the Short Stories of Thomas Morris” by Sally Rooney via LitHub. Rooney offers a heartfelt introduction to Thomas Morris’s short story collection Open Up, focusing on its blend of psychological realism and surreal elements. She highlights how Morris crafts narratives that are both tender and unsettling.
Nonfiction:
- “A Short Essay on Being‘” by Jenny Boully. Through spare, lyrical fragments, Boully mediates on existence, grief, and invites us to consider how presence and absence blur. What does it mean to be here?
Poetry:
- “All the Animals” by Amanda Lin Hayes. A quiet, powerful poem about illness, memory, and the wild places that hold us.
Listening Recommendations:
- From the Between the Covers Podcast: “Sabrina Orah Mark: Happily”. In this episode, poet and essayist Sabrina Orah Mark discusses Happily, her genre-defying memoir shaped by fairy tales, motherhood, and myth. Orah’s essay style blurs the line between dream and reality, offering a tender, surreal lens for navigating the everyday magic of survival.
- Watch and listen to Ocean Vuong read “Time is a Mother” and other selections. He also discusses his time writing in the bedroom of Emily Dickinson.
Publishing Opportunities:
- Tar River Poety Contest – Submission Deadline: May 1, 2025. Submit up to two previously unpublished poems for a chance to win $500 and publication!
- The Hudson Review Poetry Contest – Submissions Window: July 1-31, 2025. Submit up to five poems for consideration. The contest is up to poets making their first appearance in The Hudson Review. First prize is $1,000, second and third prizes receive $500.
Residency and Retreat Opportunites
- Great River Writer’s Retreat – Application Deadline: May 1, 2025. Apply for a one-week, fully-funded retreat at the Benet Retreat House from August 25-31. Applicants must be from Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota or Wisconsin.
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 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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