The Time Is Now: Writing Prompts and Exercises
Write a poem reimagining an old building in the past, a story in which three people try to achieve the same goal, or an essay about a trip that helped you realize your complicity in a social issue.
Department: The Literary Life
Infertile & Querying: Struggling to Conceive While Seeking Representation
The author of the forthcoming novel At Sea describes her struggle to get an agent and conceive a child and meditates on the expectations of being both a mother and an author.
Not Writing Right Now: Writer’s Block During a Pandemic
With daily life so affected by the pandemic, the author and playwright offers suggestions for staying creative such as writing letters, trying a short form, and letting yourself take a break.
The Time Is Now: Writing Prompts and Exercises
Write a poem dedicated to a single person, a story about a key life experience without explicitly naming that experience, and an essay inspired by the landscape of Mars.
The Thousand Pages: Tips for Transitioning to the Novel
The author of The Step Back offers strategies for short-story writers trying to draft a novel for the first time and shares how a new approach—aiming to pen a thousand pages—led to his first novel.
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A Room of (Almost My Own): Finding Space, and Permission, to Write
After years of using everything from a laptop cart to a kitchen nook as a designated writing space, the author finally creates a room of her own in her home in Long Beach, California.
New Ways of Surviving: Writing Through a Global Pandemic
The poet and essayist reflects on writing during the pandemic and its impact on her creative life and relationship with the writing community.
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The Time Is Now: Writing Prompts and Exercises
Write a poem with instructions for removing self-imposed roadblocks, a story that begins in an unconventional setting, and an essay that catalogues the history of your physical injuries.
The Time Is Now: Writing Prompts and Exercises
Write a poem considering what you see without focusing on its meaning, a short story based on a mysterious occurrence, or an essay about your New Year’s traditions.
Button Chair: The Magic of Sitting Down to Play
The author describes her failed attempts at sitting down to write, and turns to the lives and methods of famous writers, as well as her experiences as a mother, to find a way to write with a sense of spontaneity and play.
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