inspiration

Write a poem that celebrates the everyday people in your life, a short story about a character coming face-to-face with an old friend, and an essay about a time you experienced a stroke of luck.

Write a poem that captures a moment in the rain, a story that involves scent and memory, and an essay that traces minor feelings to larger sociocultural or historic forces. 

The executive director of National Novel Writing Month reflects on a quote from dancer Martha Graham, and how her acceptance of “divine dissatisfaction” can be applied to the writing life.

Write a poem inspired by extreme weather, a fiction piece in which the protagonist reevaluates the definition of home, and a lyric essay incorporating scenes written like a script.

The author examines thirteen common instances of writer’s block—or what she calls “the studious avoidance of writing”—and offers practical fixes for each.

Artist Diane Samuels turns works of literature inside out in a dramatic process of creative rewriting that highlights the intimate relationship between writer and reader in a painstaking homage to the ultimate act of creativity: writing.

Write a poem attempting to find meaning in visual artifacts, a short story about a world in which memories can be manipulated, or a nonfiction piece about the season’s soundscape.

The author of eight books, most recently the story collection Suicide Woods, on turning career pitfalls into successes, the truly amazing things that can happen when someone says no, and how the only true failure is to stop trying.