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What are you afraid of? What should scare you, but doesn't? What can you appreciate about the thing that scares you the most in the world?

Think about where you are right now and where you want to go in your writing practice, then read on for guidance on who to bring along:

I write because the words need to come out and, when they do, that’s when I feel my best. Centered. The most like myself.

When I had my own children I moved to Long Island. In the summer, I felt nostalgia, trapped in the airless frenzy of traffic, the earth paved over, asphalt heat waves, car exhaust. I dreamed of moving to the country, but didn’t see how I could uproot. I wished it would happen miraculously. Then it did.

These late summer sunflowers stretching to soak up the light, lifting their heavy heads to the sky, sturdy stalks like tree trunks--there is an easy metaphor here. What sustains you?

As a writer, your task is to make everything you write sound like it came from you and only you. Here is a four-step exercise to help guide you in the process of defining your unique voice as a writer.

Without some thoughtfulness about the fear or anxiety you encounter when writing, you might not be able to get any words down.

I am here to tell you is that if you spend some quality time staring at the wall, or the stars, or a field of flowers, with absolutely no agenda or motive other than to exist with your breath and your senses, you will be a happier human and yes, a better writer for it.

It seems to me, amidst our tragic circumstances, person to person, we are connecting with one another, that there is a new world coming forth. It may take time, this birth. But I believe it is happening...

The art we make. The work we do while others move around us, oblivious, indifferent, or simply too busy to notice. The traps we set. The very idea of a web, a network, a series of connections, attempted or established. Our fears. Our intentions. Our efforts, day after day, night after night.

What do you think of when you look at this image? Write about it.

Monthly photo prompt writing contest for email list community members!

If you aren’t currently enrolled in a Center course (or even if you are!) but want to write with us, we host a community-building photo writing prompt project through our email list.

How it works