Share your favorite quotes, videos, poems, images, [insert media here] that never fail to restore your hope in trying times. Can be the work of others or your own. Tell us a bit why you like it.

July: Pick one vowel and write a short piece or poem with words that include only that vowel and no others. Ex. use words like extreme, jewel, needless if you pick ‘e.’

I think this is impossi diffic 1 rigid, thing!

Still, I did it.

Ding ding ding! 🔔🏆

August: Take us into a dramatized version of your day in the life. It could be in your job, volunteer position, home, or walk in the neighborhood. Write about a standoff between you and your familiar arch-nemesis and the ensuing encounter.

Real life is: 1) a swampy morass of decisions and omissions; 2) transient like the old man passed out on the bench; 3) ephemeral, evaporating like the morning haze.

September: In your pursuits, what demon(s) are you fighting?

I fully acknowledge my demons, and I also acknowledge my ability to conquer them, if I will it so. I make peace with the fact that everyday that I get up, I need to square up against them. Fight for myself, for my success. As I take steps to walk further into what I believe is my purpose, my resolve to fight the hold that my demons have on me weakens. I guess the trick is constant war. Constantly battling my self-doubt into submission, lessening procrastination’s hold on me, or just give in and allow the demons to win. I guess I better stretch, because that’s not happening.

October: Rewrite the following lines in your unique writing voice. Maybe exaggerate it and make it the voiciest voice you can muster. Go wild, embellish details, and add on to the scene:

It’s 8PM. My soup is on the counter getting cold. It’s quiet here now that I’m living alone. My cell phone rings. Mom’s calling. I pick up and she asks me when was the last time I left the house. She sounds concerned.

Damn. I knew it was Ma, knew what she was gonna bitch and moan about. But I answered, so I had to listen. For a minute, anyway.
“Have you even been out of the house today?”
“Yeah, Ma.”
“Oh? Where’d you go?”
Shit. “I brought the mail in.”
“And that's leaving the house?”
“If you leave the porch then you’re outside. Besides, aint nobody else to bring the mail in. But hey, my soup’s ready. Gotta run.”
“Why can’t you speak in a compl-“
Click

Art is a lie that makes us realize truth.