🆆 Micro Monday: The Need to Create
Micro Monday Newsletter Prompt #129
It’s Micro Monday, where you get a quote and a writing prompt to help you build a portfolio of work. If you're new to micro prose and writing with me, check out this post here.
Quote #129
I started writing because I had a need inside of me to create something that was not there.
Audre Lorde
Prompt #129
What was your childhood dream job?
Set the timer for 10 minutes and start writing. When the timer goes off, give the piece a title, count up the words, and post it below.
Three Things: Abigail Thomas and Darien Gee
June 19, 2025 Thurs 12:00 pm PDT
Zoom | Free!
“Three Things” is a conversation with short prose authors to talk about writing and the creative process. Each guest shares three things: a piece of short prose, a prompt, and a writing tip.
Joining me this week: The inimitable
, author of multiple books and memoirs including Three Dog Life, What Comes Next and How to Like It. We’ll be talking about one of my favorite pieces from Safekeeping, as well as a selection from her Substack, Still Life at Eighty: The Next Interesting Thing. Abby doesn’t do mobile so you are invited to join us live in the Zoom; the replay will be available the following day. Register here: https://koalendar.com/e/three-things-abigail-thomas-and-darien-gee
Authors Unfiltered: Agents!
June 20, 2025 Thurs 12:00 pm PDT
Substack Live
Join me,
, and as we talk about our experience with literary agents (I have three), when you need them, and what you can expect. You’ll be notified when we go live!Are you writing micro this summer?
If you’re wondering if writing micro prose from a prompt works, the answer is YES! Congrats to
on her piece, “Hot Tomato,” which was just accepted for publication in Blue Mountain Review. She wrote it using the prompt from last week’s Micro Monday newsletter. Yup, you read that right!My UCLAx course, “Writing the Micro Memoir,” is sold out but I have a library of self-guided micro prose classes here. Paid subscribers receive an additional 20% off (the code is in your welcome email) and I offer quarterly live Q&As to answer any questions.
If you missed my 3-week writing workshop on Substack, “From the Junk Drawer,” mark your calendar for the next one, “Paint Chips and Prose,” which begins June 30. Paid subscribers will be automatically added to the course or find it here.
10-Minute Live Writing Session (Free)
June 17, 2025 Tues 3:00 pm PDT
June 26, 2025 Thurs 12:00 pm PDT
July 4, 2025 Thurs 2:00 pm PDT
July 7, 2025 Mon 4:00 pm PDT
Join me on Substack for 10-minute Live Writing Sessions (LWS). The live session is free; the replay and bonus content are for paid subscribers.
I sign on 5 minutes before the top of the hour and stay for 5 minutes after to answer questions or do a short craft talk. We always start writing at the top of the hour, and you are welcome to pop in and pop out. Even if you join with 2 minutes left on the timer, you will get some writing done. Trust the process and yourself as a writer.
Past writing sessions are here.
Can’t wait to hear the conversation with Abigail Thomas. Safekeeping helped me redefine for myself what a memoir could be.
My first micro-monday as a paid subscriber. I am happy to be here! Here is my micro based on today's prompt:
Dreams, Still Becoming
When I was six years old, I sat on the floor with a notebook on the couch as my table. For some reason, I decided I would write down what was happening around me. I wrote about my brother and my sister eating pastrami sandwiches. I think that was when I finally understood I was a “me.” It was my first contact with an inner voice, the first piece of writing I did that I can recall.
My writing expanded to all kinds of forms as I grew. I wrote a weekly newspaper for our family about our household happenings, like my dad sitting on the couch watching Two and a Half Men, and my mom telling him to take out the trash. Soon there was poetry, short stories, scripts based on the books I read that my friends and I would act out at recess, and more journaling. I kept a notebook divided into five sections to organize my poetry, short stories, and other writing. I wrote and self-published on a children's writing blog I found online, called “FaithKidsWrite.” A puzzle piece of myself kept clicking into place. I thought, I want to be a teacher, or an author. They were only people I knew who read things and wrote for a living, so either of those seemed just fine to me.
By the time I went to college, my childhood dreams seemed lost in a mist. I had gathered many things I loved, and the path was not unclear. I went in Undeclared. In my Writing I class, the professor loved my stories, reminding me of what I love. I became an English major, still not seeing the path, but following the child, who is still becoming.
289 words