Writing Prompt: The Time Is Now, Week 1 via Writers & Poets @poetswritersinc

The Time Is Now          January 5, 2012   Quick Links The Time Is Now Writers Recommend Poets & Writers Magazine Subscribe About Us Advertisement Welcome to The Time Is Now, our weekly e-newsletter of writing prompts, newly improved for 2012. Last year, we delivered a poetry and fiction prompt directly to your in-box once a week; this year we'll be adding creative nonfiction to the mix. We've upgraded our Best Books for Writers feature online, with links to the most popular book-sharing sites. And be sure to visit Writers Recommend, where we ask authors to share books, art, music, writing prompts, films--anything and everything--that has inspired them in their writing. Let's get writing... POETRY PROMPT Make your New Year's resolution the title of a poem. Write a poem exploring the dimensions of the resolution, perhaps considering what would happen if you kept to it strictly for an entire year or if you broke it right away. Read Mark Halliday's "Refusal to Notice Beautiful Women" for inspiration.    CREATIVE NONFICTION PROMPT This week's creative nonfiction prompt comes from Vijay Seshadri, author, most recently, of The Disappearances (Harper Collins, 2007).  Using John Ashbery's poem "And Ut Pictura Poesis Is Her Name" from Houseboat Days as a model, tell a story by telling us how to tell a story. Scaffold the narrative by meditating on the nature of storytelling.   FICTION PROMPT In honor of Robert Walser's Microscripts, write a story (in as small as print as possible) on previously used paper, allowing whatever use the paper previously served (letter from a family member, etc.) be the inspiration for the new story.    THE BEST BOOKS FOR WRITERS Each week we recommend a book--a newly published title or an invaluable classic--that will help you on your writing journey. This week's pick:         Old Friend From Far Away: The Practice of Writing Memoir (Free Press, 2008) by Natalie Goldberg  DISCOUNT OFFER FOR POETS & WRITERS MAGAZINE Don't miss out on the latest grants, awards, contests, and conferences. Join the community of writers! Subscribe Now and Save Up to 65% Off  the Newsstand Price   Poets & Writers is the primary source of information, support, and guidance for creative writers. Founded in 1970, it is the nation's largest nonprofit literary organization for poets, fiction writers, and creative nonfiction writers. Learn more at pw.org.