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The Center blog is teeming with tips and inspiration for starting and maintaining your writing practice.

on deck with Ten intuitive imagery prompts for writers_text over a deck of colorful cards fanned out

On Deck: Tarot reading for writers June ‘24

Teneice Durrant, creator of Tarot with Ten, will use various tarot and oracle decks to provide monthly readings for writers, with exercises on using imagery and intuition as prompts. June’s prompt is about using the energy of the summer solstice to generate a story explaining why days grow shorter.

 

Solstice celebrations across cultures

Thursday, June 20, marks the Summer Solstice and the beginning of Cancer season. This month, I thought we’d take a break from exploring and developing the different types of literary conflicts to celebrate the longest day of the year. 

a stack of rainbow colored books on a blue background with heading 5 reading recs for pride month 24 in white text

5 reading recs for PRIDE month '24

June is Pride month. At the Center, we stand with the LGBTQIA community this month and every month, because dignity is being able to live and belong as you are, trans rights matter, and love is love.

This Pride month, we encourage you to buy books by LGBTQIA authors from LGBTQIA-owned bookstores. As always, Bookshop.org is an invaluable resource for both; unless otherwise noted, all book links in this post lead to Bookshop.org, where your purchases support independent bookstores across the U.S.

Here is Bookshop’s complete PRIDE 2024 curated list (plus 15% discount code through June 30), with some of our favorite recent releases in more detail below.

beyond a book review_sentences as paragraph in the last white man, purple text over lightened image of an open book

Beyond a Book Review: Sentences as paragraphs in The Last White Man

This novel offers an important perspective on identity and privilege as well as an artful structural choice by the author.
red teal purple and yellow paint spilling and running together to make a pretty mix

Photo writing prompt contest: June '24

Write about a mistake that led to beauty, truth, or growth.
Helena Writes, Helena Clare Pittman's monthly Center column on her writing life

Nonfiction: Helena Writes #66_On writing the places where we know ourselves best

The ceilings in the studios had to have been 20 feet high. I loved the corner where I painted, lit by a tall, old window that was stuck closed with time...
On deck with Ten intuitive imagery prompts for writers_text over a deck of colorful cards fanned out

On Deck: Tarot readings for writers May ‘24

Use the imagery and symbolism of tarot to develop a person vs. technology conflict in a new or in-progress story.
Beyond a book review_alternate futures in womb city text over a photo of an open book

Beyond a Book Review: Alternate Futures in Womb City

A look at a genre-bending, Afrofuturist, speculative novel that grapples with gender, the ethics of AI, and the question of whether balance and hope are possible.
a collection of antique spoons with various herbs and flowers next to a glass teacup filled with herbal tea

Photo writing prompt contest: May '24

What’s the cure for what ails you, and is there a story behind it?
Helena Writes, Helena Clare Pittman's monthly Center column on her writing life

Nonfiction: Helena Writes #65_On jewelry-making and stepping into the cloud

Loving the campers was the given. We were in sync. I wasn’t, after all, that much older than they were. I could have passed for one of them, had I worn a camp uniform...
on deck with Ten intuitive imagery prompts for writers_text over a deck of colorful cards fanned out

On Deck: Tarot reading for writers April ‘24

April’s prompt is about developing a person vs. nature conflict.

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