🆆 Micro Monday: Sit Awhile
#167 on sitting, proposals, and sick days
This is Writer-ish with Darien Gee, where I help you write your most powerful stories in 300 words or less. If you’re new to micro prose and writing with me, check out this post here.
I. This Week’s Practice
Quote #167
Never be afraid to sit a while and think.
Lorraine Hansberry
Prompt #167
Write about a proposal.
Set the timer for 10 minutes and start writing. When the timer goes off, give the piece a title, count up the words, add it to your TOC, and post it below.
II. This Week’s Micro Prose
This section features micro prose (300 words or less) by me and other writers, including members of our community. Submit your work for consideration here.
“Home Sick” is the fourth chapter in my book of 70 micro-memoirs of 70 words each. I set myself the daunting task of essentially presenting 70 scenes from my life over seven decades. Once I selected a scene to draft from a huge master list, I would sit in my chair, close my eyes, and try to recall the moment through all my senses, then allow myself to recall the “emotional truth” as best as possible. That process allowed me to select important details that I hoped would convey its meaning, both as a standalone piece and within the macro context of my story.
Home Sick by Deborah Sosin
I have a miserable cold but I’m only half- miserable because staying home means Lovey Mommy instead of Naggy Mommy. Campbell’s tomato soup placed on a saucer with a perfect saltine circle, brand-new Venus colored pencils, a single-stem red rose. She checks for fever, smooths Vicks VapoRub onto my chest, sings Yiddish lullabies. Even though I’ll miss Sandy’s birthday party, I sniff and cough louder for one extra day. Maybe two.
70 words. From Deborah Sosin’s new memoir, Escape Velocity: How One 70-Year-Old Push-Pulled Her Way Out of Her Too-Much-Not-Enough Family. Deborah is a writer, editor, and psychotherapist. Her writing has appeared in publications such as the New York Times, Salon, and Short Reads. Find her at deborahsosin.com.
III. This Week on Writer-ish
I’m on the road this month, so there’s no Live Writing Session this week. The next Live Writing Session will be March 25th, but in the meantime paid subscribers can access previous Live Writing Sessions here.
Small Helpings: A Food and Memory Writing Workshop with Abigail Thomas and Darien Gee: Mar 29, 2026 Sun 10:00 am PT (note: because of No Kings on Saturday, the workshop date has changed to Sunday)
Short, Shaped and Submitted: A 6-Week Writing, Revising, and Submitting Micro Prose Workshop: Starts Apr 7, 2026 Tue 5:00 pm PT
Updates on my WIP from Drafts, Deals & Detours
IV. From My Desk
One of the reasons I’m on the mainland this time of year is for the annual AWP (Association of Writers and Writing Programs) conference, which was held this year in Baltimore. Thank you to everyone who stopped me to say hi, who came to our panel, who came to my signing, who bought my book. This is the one big trip I make every year from Hawaiʻi, and even though I still have two more states and multiple time zones ahead of me before I head home, I’m so glad to have said hello (and hugged) many of you. It is one reason Substack is more substantial than most social media platforms—deeper connections can be made, and that was certainly the case for me. On one of the days, I sat next to someone when I was watching another panel, and they said, “Hey, I subscribe to your Substack!” We had such a great chat! This continued beyond the conference to the Amtrak ride to NY, where I ran into more connections on the platform who helped me navigate the train (it’s been a while) until we pulled into the city.
One of the highlights of the AWP conference is the book fair. Yes, it’s overwhelming, but it’s also inspiring to see so many books and lit mags putting words and ideas into the world. I discovered new authors and had to mail two boxes back to Hawaiʻi so I wouldn’t drag everything around the country (Siglio makes the most beautiful books but they are satisfyingly heavy). I also got a couple of ARCs (advanced reading copies) and picked up the latest Object Lessons titles to add to my collection. I can’t wait to return home and get back to work on my manuscript, and to host another Live Writing Session so we can all write together again.
Thank you for being here. I’m grateful for the kindness, curiosity, and creativity you bring to our community.
warmly,
Darien
P.S. To see what’s happening on Writer-ish this month, go here.
Here is mine. Hope ya'll are well. I was able to order Deborah's book from our local Indie. Can't wait!
"Writing from the trailer school, the week after a student is deported" (279 words)
I’ve decided we’ll each write a diary. Every morning, 15 minutes. Free-write, in what we call their recipe books. Friday we’ll put it all together. It’s cold, late November. A government shutdown just ended, SNAP’s been off. It’s a trailer school for prior drop-outs, some have felonies, they’re all hungry, not just for food.
On Friday I bring bagels, cheese, bananas. The center pantry is lean, but M found baked beans, his favorite. I ask him if that’s why he’s happy. He’s eating them out of the can.
But he says it’s not that. He has a proposal. In fact, he says he LOVES his proposal. He and his brother have figured out hope. It’s all here, in his diary. I’m all ears, I say.
When it’s time to share, we draw numbers. M goes last. In one long, run-on, rapped, and danced sentence, he performs:
HOPE IS THIS !!! [loud drum roll on the table] MAGA gonna make us GOOD, you know why? cuz it gonna blow everything up, destroy the whole country, think of it this way, we’ll be out of food, get bombed, nothing left and we’ll all get sick. America won’t be anything, but we’ll all be EQUAL.
Long, deep breath, his eyes circle the room. BUT:
After that, we gotta start over. Maybe we build ourselves back up the way we should, not built by killing or slaves, and we won’t be powerful anymore but that’s OK because we will be [dramatic pause, a whisper behind his hand ]: kind.
So listen, for real - let’s do it right next time.
M takes a bow. The kids decide next week we'll write about what "right" would look like.
222 wbh no need for book proposal
A few years back I decided to take a 5 week intensive Book Proposal Masterclass. I could afford it because I had earned 700$ in rewards from my credit card so instead of spending it on something useful or practical, i invested in my writing dream. It was full on. it was intense. it had too many participants in my opinion. It was a wealth of knowledge, overwhelming, boundary pushing. Overall a great learning experience. I am trying to take this book writing thing seriously, even if i only write my one hit wonder. I hadn't thought about a book proposal or what it entailed until taking the free 5 day mini taster class the week before. I had no idea how daunting it was to get one's writing/book out in to the world and SEEN. I barely socialized during those 5 weeks; as I worked through the assignments, i tried to figure out the best category for my book - memoir, self help, hybrid of the 2? Biography? I began to realize that for my genre, I didn't actually need to write a proposal! How frustrating to pay 700.00$ before learning that. Determined, I worked on the proposal nonetheless (couldn't get a refund). I gained clarity on the direction of my book but my biggest takeaway was how difficult it is for writers to make a living from this craft. If we weren't so damn obsessed with putting pen to page, there isn't much reason to pursue a career writing . It was a difficult pill to swallow - but - still I write. I must. I will finish this creation I started. Probably self publish. Working towards getting a book published isn't for those who crave instant gratification. It's a labor of love. The reward is seeing it through.