I’ve been in a creative field since around 2014, when I first moved to Houston. I was fresh out of my Master’s program (online, taken while putting my spouse through grad school). And I knew nothing about the writing or arts communities. I just knew that I loved writing and wanted to do it, in some capacity, having put aside my creative self for about ten years after college.

Now I’ve taught hundreds, if not thousands, of writing students. I’ve had my work win awards, and I’ve been accepted as an artist to major exhibitions. I’ve written three books of poetry and have two more in the works.

All of this matters. When I hit that first milestone of my first-ever “professional” (paid!) publication, I felt elated, but also a bit deflated. What now? I found myself wondering. I moved the goalpost, making a new goal for my work. Then I realized that creative life, if you pursue it professionally, is a series of moving goalposts.

And the thing I come back to again and again is that in the end, no one can tell you how to do this thing called creativity—and no one can tell you how to then disseminate that work to the world.

You can take workshops, you can work with an editor. You can make friends and learn how the ecosystem of whatever chosen creative field you want to pursue works.

But in the end, YOU are the deciding factor of whether you: Finish the story. Write the poem. Publish the book. Make the art. Sell the art.

The world is a strange place to live in. It’s rapidly changing. I’m not just talking about my Least Favorite Topic of Conversation—AI. The social media landscape has changed for creatives. Twitter is dead and TikTok is in. There’s a constant barrage of “You should be promoting your brand!” but also “You should make friends and be part of a community!” and also “You should focus on your work and ignore all that!”

For every “you should” there’s a "you should” that counteracts it. No advice is good advice unless the advice matters to you.

I don’t know about you, but I used to spend a lot of time feeling like I was behind. Like no matter what I did creatively, I would never get past where I am now. The reason that making art feels that way is because creative growth is incremental. I used to see myself primarily as a writer. You may have noticed my language has changed. I’m more open now to seeing myself as something more—not just a writer but also an artist, not just an artist but a creative.

This move toward the visual art field has been fascinating because it’s taught me a lot. Visual artists work on much tighter timelines than writers. Projects are often due quickly, submission calls are short, and sometimes exhibitions require you to drop your art off THE NEXT DAY. It’s higher-stakes but also lower-stakes in some ways, because the art is seen as a growing practice. There’s no expectation for perfect, only where you are right now.

I started out calling this newsletter “The Weird Circular” because I wanted to embrace being a weird writer. Not just that I write weird, strange things. What this meant for me was that I always felt my work was a bit off-balance. It wasn’t one thing or another—my work was a referential, circular dragon eating its own tail. Now that I create visual art, I spend a lot of time sharing it online, which has given me many new perspectives on it.

When I talk to my creative friends, their main struggle is two-fold. Some are great at Getting the Work Done. They can finish a project like nobody’s business. But they struggle on the other side—marketing, promotion, publication, etc. Others are self-admittedly terrible at finishing the project. They have endless folders of unfinished work. Still others are great at self-promotion but seem never to move past the first book they published ten years ago. They stall out, fall out of the community, or move away from creativity altogether. All of this is a way to live in the creative world. All of this is normal; nothing is new. Which is to say, all of it is weird, all of it matters, and yet, nothing matters.

So how do you navigate the world as a creative? Well, in the end, I go back to a few adages that have kept me thriving and that I have built as the cornerstone of my teaching practice. I hope sharing them with you will help you think through where you are and where you want to be in your creative practice—whatever that may be:

• Your voice matters. It can feel bleak in today’s creative world. But in the end, your own voice matters. Telling your story—in your style—matters. You matter—you are literally made of starstuff. You are alive today and that is enough.

• Every writer has a unique approach to the creative process. For every piece of advice that doesn’t work for you, you’ll find one that does. In the end, it’s more important to do what you love than try to fit into some box. Embrace your process—from chaos to hyperorganizational—and grow through it.

• Writing is a personal experience driven by each student’s diverse background. Who you are and where you came from matters. Everyone has their own experiences that fuel their creativity. By being vulnerable, you can connect to your audience.

• Innovation comes from experimentation. As Picasso once said, "Learn the rules like a pro so you can break them like an artist." Be weird. Let your process be messy. Have too many spreadsheets. Try things out. Change.

I hope this little pep talk has made you feel less weird in this world. I’m here for you, and I’m rooting for you to do whatever it is you want to accomplish with your creativity. Remember:

Upcoming Workshops from Your Host with the Most Writing Prompts, Holly Lyn Walrath

Sip + Create Goth Night DATE: Saturday, October 10th, 2026 TIME: 4:30PM - 6:30 PM LOCATION: Merge Art Studio, 2000 Nance St. Studio B-126 ​Bust out your black velvet because this is an art night for the goths! To celebrate Halloween and spooky season, join MERGE for a special all-black painting and poetry night. The challenge for this sip and create will be to create artwork that pairs dark poetry with our favorite color: Black (or maybe really really really dark gray). Attendees are welcome to dress up in their spookiest duds. Hosted by your resident emo, Holly Lyn Walrath, "Houston's most darksome poet". Journaling for Writers DATES: Four Weeks Starting December 7th, 2026 TIME: Asynchronous via Writing Workshops Journaling is proven to boost mental health and help focus your thoughts — and for writers, it can be so much more than that. In this creative writing workshop, you'll learn a range of journaling techniques geared specifically toward the writing life, exploring journaling not just as a way to process and track your thoughts, but as a method for improving your craft and building a sustainable career as a writer. 30 Genres in 30 Days DATE: 4 Weeks Starting January 4, 2027 LOCATION: Online via Writing Workshops Dallas Get ready to discover the magic of different genres in this fun and interactive 30-day workshop tailored for short story writers. Whether you’re into mystery, romance, horror, or science fiction, this workshop will help you grasp the unique elements and essentials of each genre. With 30 engaging prompts, you’ll master how to seamlessly blend popular genre traditions into your stories, no matter if you usually write microfiction, flash fiction, or short stories. This workshop is the perfect opportunity for fiction writers aiming to enhance their craft by gaining a deeper understanding of genres. Grow with Van Gogh: A 30 Day Creative Challenge DATES: 4 Weeks Starting Monday, March 1st, 2027 TIME: Asynchronous via Writing Workshops Secluded in a small village outside of Paris, the famous impressionist artist Vincent van Gogh spent the final 70 days of his life doing what he loved: painting every day. This remarkable period and astonishing burst of creativity inspires this unique workshop. Grow with Van Gogh is a 30-day challenge for writers, artists, and all creatives looking to generate new work and push their boundaries. This four-week workshop includes a daily prompt inspired by the life and work of Vincent van Gogh. Whether you're putting words on a page, paint on a canvas, or lens to the world, this challenge invites you to show up daily and create. Vincent van Gogh is one of the most prolific and famous artists of all time. He is also perhaps the most misunderstood. A tribute to Vincent’s relentless creative spirit, this workshop takes a close look at the artist while allowing participants to respond to and reflect on van Gogh’s life through their own creative voyage.

Sip + Create Van Gogh's Sunflowers DATE: Saturday, September 26th, 2026 TIME: 6:00PM - 8:00PM LOCATION: Merge Art Studio, 2000 Nance St. Studio B-126 ​ In this writing + art workshop, we'll explore one of the most iconic artists of all time: Vincent Van Gogh. Inspired by Van Gogh's famous sunflowers, we'll paint sunny summer sunflowers and incorporate Van Gogh's writing into our creative practice. Van Gogh was not only a talented painter but also a lifelong letter writer. This unique workshop will give you an opportunity to learn about Van Gogh's life and create a piece of art in the spirit of one of the most popular artists in history. Writing the Book-Length Poetry Collection DATES: Four Weeks Starting October 5th, 2026 TIME: Asynchronous via Writing Workshops This online poetry workshop is built for new and emerging poets ready to gather their work into a cohesive manuscript. Open to all levels and all genres of poetry, it's ideal for writers who have poems on the page but feel overwhelmed by the task of shaping them into a chapbook or full-length book. By the end of this online writing class, you'll have the skills to move from a folder of individual poems toward a publishable manuscript — and a clear understanding of how to submit and market your book of poetry. Sip + Create Fifth Ward Art Walk DATE: Saturday, November 14th, 2026 TIME: 4:30PM - 6:30 PM LOCATION: Houston's Historic Fifth Ward (Starting and ending outside Saint Arnold Brewing at 2000 Lyons Ave.) Houston is an art-lovers city! Join us for a guided tour of the art murals of Houston's historic Fifth Ward. This tour starts and ends at Saint Arnold Brewing and explores the nearby artwork, including Saint Arnold's famous art cars, Meow Wolf, and other neighborhood art. Come with your walking shoes ready to learn about the history of Houston and its many talented muralists. Sip + Create Holiday Cards DATE: December 12th, 2026 TIME: 4:30PM LOCATION: Merge Art Studio, 2000 Nance St. Studio B-126 ​Join us for a cozy holiday card-making sesh where you can explore your creative side and make your own poetry-themed holiday cards. In this creative session, we'll use books and texts from the December cultural holidays — Christmas, Bodhi Day, Hanukkah, Diwali, and Kwanzaa—to write poems and create our own holiday cards. Learn about the world's holidays, enjoy a cozy holiday beverage, and meet other creatives.

Self-Paced Workshops (Sign Up Anytime!)

Self-Paced Course: 30 Poems In 30 Days DATE: Ongoing TIME: Asynchronous, Self-paced via Poetry Barn PRICE: $149 This class came out of NaPoWriMo (National Poetry Writing Month), which happens every year in April. Similarly, the goal of this self-paced class is to write 30 poems in 30 days. However, you might write one poem a day, or several poems in a day, and then give yourself a break. It’s totally up to you! Whether you’re writing to a specific theme, assembling a group of poems for a chapbook, or you want to try writing a longer poetic sequence, this workshop is meant to support you with generative prompts and experiences to get you creating plenty of new work. Self-Paced Course: Journaling for Poets DATE: Ongoing TIME: Asynchronous, Self-paced via Poetry Barn PRICE: $99 Poets are observers. One way to keep track of your observations and ideas is through a writing journal. In this workshop, we'll cover the basics of journaling for poets, not just as a method of processing and keeping track of your thoughts, but as a method of improving your writing life and working towards a career as a writer.  In this workshop, you'll cover how to manage large ideas or projects, track submissions, create goals, revising, and more, all while exploring popular methods of journaling to find the one that works for you. If you feel out of sorts or disorganized in your writing life, this workshop is for you!

Self-Paced Course: Queer Poetics DATE: Ongoing ​TIME: Asynchronous, Self-paced via Poetry Barn ​PRICE: $99 This workshop is an intersectional primer on LGBTQIA+ writers throughout the history of poetry. We’ll explore poets like Walt Whitman, Adrienne Rich, Allen Ginsberg, and Audre Lorde, but also the contemporary queer poets who have catapulted into the mainstream like Jericho Brown and Danez Smith. We’ll write poems alongside and inspired by the voices of queer poetics. This class is meant both for writers who want to explore their queerness and for writers who want to learn more about the history of queer poetry. Self-Paced Course: Writing Resistance Through Erasure, Found Text & Visual Poetry DATE: Ongoing TIME: Asynchronous, Self-paced via Poetry Barn PRICE: $99 Hybrid poetry forms can be a powerful form of resistance. From Jerrod Schwarz’s erasure of Trump’s inaugural speech to Niina Pollari’s black outs of the N-400 citizenship form, contemporary poets are engaging with the world through text, creating new and challenging works of art. Heralded by the rise of the “Instapoet,” visual works are a way to take poetry one step further by crafting new forms and structures that often transcend the page.

When considering how to make a poetry collection, there are generally a few approaches a poet can take. They can start with a selection of previously published poems or already written poems and work backward, compiling them into a book.

Or the poet can write new poems with the goal of creating a cohesive collection.

Either way, the two most important concepts to understand during the process are theme and structure. Theme refers to the content of the poems: What are the poems about?

Structure refers to the form of the poems: What do they look like on the page? Are they free verse or a specific form?

This and other considerations for making a poetry book are the topic of my upcoming workshop in October:

Writing the Book-Length Poetry Collection
DATES: Four Weeks Starting October 5th, 2026
TIME: Asynchronous via Writing Workshops

This online poetry workshop is built for new and emerging poets ready to gather their work into a cohesive manuscript. Open to all levels and all genres of poetry, it's ideal for writers who have poems on the page but feel overwhelmed by the task of shaping them into a chapbook or full-length book. By the end of this online writing class, you'll have the skills to move from a folder of individual poems toward a publishable manuscript — and a clear understanding of how to submit and market your book of poetry.

Writing to Theme: A Case Study

I recently finished a chapbook of themed poems. I personally love a poetry book that creates a narrative or story. In my chapbook, I wrote a series of poems from a different persona or point of view. I started out calling these “visualizations”. I was thinking of my yoga classes, where we are often told to visualize ourselves in a peaceful place.

One of the early poems from this (as-of-yet-unpublished) chapbook was published in the FUMPTRUCK anthology:

This was one of the early poems I wrote in the collection. Like all science fiction works, it started with a “what if?” question. What if you were conscious during a medical coma? As someone with sleep paralysis, the idea of being fully awake while your body is unable to move is terrifying to me, and something I frequently experience.

As I began to write poems for this chapbook, I realized I wanted them all to be in second-person point of view. This POV is often seen as immersive. By addressing the reader as “you”, the reader is invited to imagine themselves in the work. The famous example of this point of view is “Choose Your Own Adventure” stories, where the reader is invited to make a choice that shapes the narrative. But in my poems, I explored the idea that the reader has no choice—they are experiencing each “visualization” through reading but unable to change the outcome.

This became the theme of the collection: Autonomy and empathy.

Theme Tells a Story

We are sometimes taught that theme is the underlying “message” of a narrative. This implies that the author is teaching the reader—that there is a secret for the reader to decode. But when it comes to poetry collections, you can think of theme as a word cloud of topics that interweave throughout the poems, forming a subtle story. Contemporary poetry is not inherently narrative. A poem can be about an image, metaphor, idea, or clever way of conveying emotion.

But when combining poems into a collection, theme is the main selling point for a reader.

As an example, leena aboutaleb’s poetry debut, THALASSA, explores the grief of Palestine through mythology. You can read an excerpt from this collection below at Mizna:

Excerpt from THALASSA – Three Poems  - Mizna

Love will reinvent you. I am made from all the people who love me. I know exactly who I am. Why do you still believe we are made out of images and not hearts? Are we all martyrs? My brother will take seven. Only God can dissolve me. Only God can judge me.

Mizna • George Abraham

Notice a few similarities between these poems. Two deal with mythological or historical figures (Persephone, Sappho) while one focuses on a traumatic memory. But also, each poem uses a prose poem structure, with its characteristic density of language and emotion. The “story” here is the speaker’s loss of her brother, Yousef. But the theme expands into a much larger conversation about Palestine and being a witness to the horrors of today’s world.

In an interview at Liminal Transit Review, the author says, “I want to reframe witnessing here. While it holds political connotations, it isn’t the same as witnessing in Islam, in my perspective. Witnessing in Islam has a severity to it, and now I am unable to remove it from genocide. It’s what is recorded at the end of times, whereas in THALASSA, witnessing is a testament to myself and my family.”

For me, the main theme this poet is weaving together is grief, both for family and for a homeland.

Structure Is a Mirror Reflecting Theme

The poems in my collection are also prose poems. Because prose poems look like paragraphs in fiction, they can often be more narrative in theme or content than other forms of poetry. The prose poetry form, in its block, asks the reader to keep reading without stopping. There is no space to breathe.

Here is another poem from the collection, also published in FUMPTRUCK:

In this poem, I continue the second-person point of view, but now we’ve jumped to a new persona. Here, I’m directly talking to the reader, not necessarily asking them to imagine themselves as someone new (except perhaps someone who owns a dog and reads tea). This direct address of the reader mattered to me because the book deals with difficult situations. Sometimes the “visualizations” ask the reader to imagine what it would be like to be different than themselves—to be unhoused, queer, or a criminal.

Choose a Structure that Speaks to the Theme

For me, the most powerful poetry collections use theme and structure in conversation. The theme reflects the topic. For example, aboutaleb’s prose poems reflect the density of emotion in them. They feel breathless, like grief.

One example of a book that does this is Sleeping with the Dictionary by Harryette Mullen. An excerpt can be read below at the Poetry Foundation. This book is structured like an abecedarius, alphabetically by title. The poem below is the book’s title poem. In the book, Mullen imagines an affair with Roget’s Thesaurus and The American Heritage Dictionary. Some of the poems use dictionary games, like the N+7 game, where words in a text are replaced by the 7th next word in a dictionary that is the same type of word (nouns, adjectives, etc.)

Sleeping with the Dictionary

A versatile partner, conversant and well-versed in the verbal art, the dictionary is not averse to the solitary habits of the curiously wide-awake reader.…

The Poetry Foundation

A Prompt for Poets Making a Poetry Collection

Here is a way to play around with making a collection of poems:

1. Gather all the poems you have that are the same format or structure (haiku, sonnets, whatever!)

2. Now consider: Do any of the poems overlap in theme? The poems that do can form a section in your next poetry collection. If you have enough, they might even form a chapbook.

Or, try it this way:

1. Gather all the poems you have that seem related to a certain theme (grief, gender, nature, etc.)

2. Now consider: Do any of the poems overlap in structure? If they don’t, is there a structure that might reflect that theme that you could revise them to fit into?

Or, if you’re like me:

1. Consider any poems you’ve written that feel like they are part of a larger conversation that you want to continue. Pick one poem.

2. Make this poem the hearthstone of your collection. Write a collection of poems that use both the same theme and structure as the hearthstone poem.

There’s no wrong or right way to make a poetry collection. Let me know in the comments: What is your favorite approach to choosing poems for a collection?

Upcoming Workshops from Your Host with the Most Writing Prompts, Holly Lyn Walrath

Sip + Create Goth Night DATE: Saturday, October 10th, 2026 TIME: 4:30PM - 6:30 PM LOCATION: Merge Art Studio, 2000 Nance St. Studio B-126 ​Bust out your black velvet because this is an art night for the goths! To celebrate Halloween and spooky season, join MERGE for a special all-black painting and poetry night. The challenge for this sip and create will be to create artwork that pairs dark poetry with our favorite color: Black (or maybe really really really dark gray). Attendees are welcome to dress up in their spookiest duds. Hosted by your resident emo, Holly Lyn Walrath, "Houston's most darksome poet". Journaling for Writers DATES: Four Weeks Starting December 7th, 2026 TIME: Asynchronous via Writing Workshops Journaling is proven to boost mental health and help focus your thoughts — and for writers, it can be so much more than that. In this creative writing workshop, you'll learn a range of journaling techniques geared specifically toward the writing life, exploring journaling not just as a way to process and track your thoughts, but as a method for improving your craft and building a sustainable career as a writer. 30 Genres in 30 Days DATE: 4 Weeks Starting January 4, 2027 LOCATION: Online via Writing Workshops Dallas Get ready to discover the magic of different genres in this fun and interactive 30-day workshop tailored for short story writers. Whether you’re into mystery, romance, horror, or science fiction, this workshop will help you grasp the unique elements and essentials of each genre. With 30 engaging prompts, you’ll master how to seamlessly blend popular genre traditions into your stories, no matter if you usually write microfiction, flash fiction, or short stories. This workshop is the perfect opportunity for fiction writers aiming to enhance their craft by gaining a deeper understanding of genres. Grow with Van Gogh: A 30 Day Creative Challenge DATES: 4 Weeks Starting Monday, March 1st, 2027 TIME: Asynchronous via Writing Workshops Secluded in a small village outside of Paris, the famous impressionist artist Vincent van Gogh spent the final 70 days of his life doing what he loved: painting every day. This remarkable period and astonishing burst of creativity inspires this unique workshop. Grow with Van Gogh is a 30-day challenge for writers, artists, and all creatives looking to generate new work and push their boundaries. This four-week workshop includes a daily prompt inspired by the life and work of Vincent van Gogh. Whether you're putting words on a page, paint on a canvas, or lens to the world, this challenge invites you to show up daily and create. Vincent van Gogh is one of the most prolific and famous artists of all time. He is also perhaps the most misunderstood. A tribute to Vincent’s relentless creative spirit, this workshop takes a close look at the artist while allowing participants to respond to and reflect on van Gogh’s life through their own creative voyage.

Sip + Create Van Gogh's Sunflowers DATE: Saturday, September 26th, 2026 TIME: 6:00PM - 8:00PM LOCATION: Merge Art Studio, 2000 Nance St. Studio B-126 ​ In this writing + art workshop, we'll explore one of the most iconic artists of all time: Vincent Van Gogh. Inspired by Van Gogh's famous sunflowers, we'll paint sunny summer sunflowers and incorporate Van Gogh's writing into our creative practice. Van Gogh was not only a talented painter but also a lifelong letter writer. This unique workshop will give you an opportunity to learn about Van Gogh's life and create a piece of art in the spirit of one of the most popular artists in history. Writing the Book-Length Poetry Collection DATES: Four Weeks Starting October 5th, 2026 TIME: Asynchronous via Writing Workshops This online poetry workshop is built for new and emerging poets ready to gather their work into a cohesive manuscript. Open to all levels and all genres of poetry, it's ideal for writers who have poems on the page but feel overwhelmed by the task of shaping them into a chapbook or full-length book. By the end of this online writing class, you'll have the skills to move from a folder of individual poems toward a publishable manuscript — and a clear understanding of how to submit and market your book of poetry. Sip + Create Fifth Ward Art Walk DATE: Saturday, November 14th, 2026 TIME: 4:30PM - 6:30 PM LOCATION: Houston's Historic Fifth Ward (Starting and ending outside Saint Arnold Brewing at 2000 Lyons Ave.) Houston is an art-lovers city! Join us for a guided tour of the art murals of Houston's historic Fifth Ward. This tour starts and ends at Saint Arnold Brewing and explores the nearby artwork, including Saint Arnold's famous art cars, Meow Wolf, and other neighborhood art. Come with your walking shoes ready to learn about the history of Houston and its many talented muralists. Sip + Create Holiday Cards DATE: December 12th, 2026 TIME: 4:30PM LOCATION: Merge Art Studio, 2000 Nance St. Studio B-126 ​Join us for a cozy holiday card-making sesh where you can explore your creative side and make your own poetry-themed holiday cards. In this creative session, we'll use books and texts from the December cultural holidays — Christmas, Bodhi Day, Hanukkah, Diwali, and Kwanzaa—to write poems and create our own holiday cards. Learn about the world's holidays, enjoy a cozy holiday beverage, and meet other creatives.

Self-Paced Workshops (Sign Up Anytime!)

Self-Paced Course: 30 Poems In 30 Days DATE: Ongoing TIME: Asynchronous, Self-paced via Poetry Barn PRICE: $149 This class came out of NaPoWriMo (National Poetry Writing Month), which happens every year in April. Similarly, the goal of this self-paced class is to write 30 poems in 30 days. However, you might write one poem a day, or several poems in a day, and then give yourself a break. It’s totally up to you! Whether you’re writing to a specific theme, assembling a group of poems for a chapbook, or you want to try writing a longer poetic sequence, this workshop is meant to support you with generative prompts and experiences to get you creating plenty of new work. Self-Paced Course: Journaling for Poets DATE: Ongoing TIME: Asynchronous, Self-paced via Poetry Barn PRICE: $99 Poets are observers. One way to keep track of your observations and ideas is through a writing journal. In this workshop, we'll cover the basics of journaling for poets, not just as a method of processing and keeping track of your thoughts, but as a method of improving your writing life and working towards a career as a writer.  In this workshop, you'll cover how to manage large ideas or projects, track submissions, create goals, revising, and more, all while exploring popular methods of journaling to find the one that works for you. If you feel out of sorts or disorganized in your writing life, this workshop is for you!

Self-Paced Course: Queer Poetics DATE: Ongoing ​TIME: Asynchronous, Self-paced via Poetry Barn ​PRICE: $99 This workshop is an intersectional primer on LGBTQIA+ writers throughout the history of poetry. We’ll explore poets like Walt Whitman, Adrienne Rich, Allen Ginsberg, and Audre Lorde, but also the contemporary queer poets who have catapulted into the mainstream like Jericho Brown and Danez Smith. We’ll write poems alongside and inspired by the voices of queer poetics. This class is meant both for writers who want to explore their queerness and for writers who want to learn more about the history of queer poetry. Self-Paced Course: Writing Resistance Through Erasure, Found Text & Visual Poetry DATE: Ongoing TIME: Asynchronous, Self-paced via Poetry Barn PRICE: $99 Hybrid poetry forms can be a powerful form of resistance. From Jerrod Schwarz’s erasure of Trump’s inaugural speech to Niina Pollari’s black outs of the N-400 citizenship form, contemporary poets are engaging with the world through text, creating new and challenging works of art. Heralded by the rise of the “Instapoet,” visual works are a way to take poetry one step further by crafting new forms and structures that often transcend the page.

Lately, I’ve been documenting what I call “Art Maxxing” on my social media accounts. It’s part gimmick to draw people in and part true experience. Art Maxxing is simply the act of spending a day focused on my creative passions—from taking a workshop to visiting a museum to making the active choice to work on something creative. This is essentially how I’ve always created: I do something that fuels my inner imaginative world, and then I devote time to my creativity.

But what has surprised me recently about this experience is how often serendipity plays a role. I’ve found that by putting yourself out there—attending a conference, visiting a new gallery in your city, going to a creative meetup—you also invite the universe to show you where your art is going next.

For example, I recently spent a day at the newly renovated Rothko Chapel. I’ve visited this place many times before. I wandered into the Chapel’s welcome center, and they happened to be giving away books from the archives. The first book I picked up was one of yogic principles. As someone who’s recently gotten into yoga as a physical practice, I’m still expanding my understanding of its philosophy. The book seemed primed for me personally—it was essentially a dictionary of interesting terms. I’ve also made a practice of erasing or creating blackout poems from old books, specifically encyclopedias.

I took the book with me to lunch and began making a playful poem out of it. The poem’s topic was “death”, which felt fitting because I’d just spent a day looking at Rothko’s art. Rothko’s work is often associated with death because of his suicide. On that day, I created three works of art inspired by Rothko and the yoga dictionary—a poem about Rothko’s paintings, a blackout poem, and a painting using the dictionary.

If I hadn’t visited these places, those works would have been impossible to make. Sometimes, it feels like the universe leads me to create through sheer serendipity.

Science is already very familiar with serendipity. A lot of major scientific discoveries are possible because of chance. Alexander Fleming discovered the world’s first antibiotic, penicillin, after a Petri dish was left out by accident. From the microwave oven to X-rays, science has been gifted by serendipity for ages.

Louis Pasteur, a scientist responsible for discovering vaccination, once said, “Fortune only favors the prepared mind.” A word I often find in serendipity research is “agency”. It’s not just that the imagination needs stimulus to operate—it also needs openness. There’s a conscious decision to notice, to be aware, that we can control. Serendipity relies on the human brain’s ability to make connections. The yoga book felt serendipitous to me, but if I hadn’t noticed it or taken the time to stop and read, I’d have missed the opportunity.

Art—writing, painting, photography, really any art—is driven by serendipity. So, how do you prepare your mind to take in what the universe is sending your way?

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Here are a few tips on using serendipity for inspiration:

Let Serendipity Lead You to Surprise

Serendipity is at the heart of most innovation. For any creative person, being new and original is often the hardest part of creating. Everything’s been done before. But by letting serendipity lead your creative practice, you can invite surprise into your work.

You’ve probably heard the adage, “no surprise for the author, no surprise for the reader.” So the next time you feel stuck, put yourself into a mindset that allows you to invite serendipity.

Take Time to Goof Off

Scientists have given procrastination a beautiful title: Informality. An informal approach to research is one where you randomly research on Google, read a book, or browse related topics.

What if you took that approach to art? Instead of thinking of each story, each painting, each photograph as needing to be perfect, be open to serendipity. Goof off. Play around. Create imaginatively. Let yourself make mistakes. After all, isn’t that what serendipity is?

Pay Attention to the Nudges: What If?

Sometimes when I’m creating art, I get a little nudge. I think “What if this character suddenly did something unexpected?” or “What if this story started at the end, not the beginning of the situation?” or “What if this painting was upside down?”

When I follow those nudges, I often end up in a rabbit hole. But sometimes, that rabbit hole is a wonderland of ideas.

Create an Environment Primed for Serendipity

We use our minds best in certain environments. I find my best ideas in coffee shops, at art museums, or when talking with friends. Putting yourself in situations where you can encounter inspiration can help you be ready for the universe to throw ideas your way. This isn’t to say you shouldn’t work at home at your desk—just that when you need a bit of a spark, try getting out of your comfort zone.

While in a new environment, pay attention. Look at posters. Listen to conversations. Notice things. Be an observer. Have agency over what inspires you by paying attention to your world.

Make Obvious Art

The opposite often holds its own allure. Instead of trying to be original, try making your work the straightforward way first. For example, I’ll often make an abstract, plain painting first. But later, I go back and add text or something special to the piece. This obvious approach shows you the bare bones of an idea. But later, you can always break those bones apart and rearrange them.

Now: What is un-obvious? What’s a new approach to your art that you haven’t tried yet?

Notes

Some of the ideas for this blog were inspired by this research article on Serendipity: “Serendipity: A Way of Stimulating Researchers’ Creativity” by Kennedy et al, Journal of Creativity 32:1, 2022.

Upcoming Workshops from Your Host with the Most Writing Prompts, Holly Lyn Walrath

Sip + Create Goth Night DATE: Saturday, October 10th, 2026 TIME: 4:30PM - 6:30 PM LOCATION: Merge Art Studio, 2000 Nance St. Studio B-126 ​Bust out your black velvet because this is an art night for the goths! To celebrate Halloween and spooky season, join MERGE for a special all-black painting and poetry night. The challenge for this sip and create will be to create artwork that pairs dark poetry with our favorite color: Black (or maybe really really really dark gray). Attendees are welcome to dress up in their spookiest duds. Hosted by your resident emo, Holly Lyn Walrath, "Houston's most darksome poet". Journaling for Writers DATES: Four Weeks Starting December 7th, 2026 TIME: Asynchronous via Writing Workshops Journaling is proven to boost mental health and help focus your thoughts — and for writers, it can be so much more than that. In this creative writing workshop, you'll learn a range of journaling techniques geared specifically toward the writing life, exploring journaling not just as a way to process and track your thoughts, but as a method for improving your craft and building a sustainable career as a writer. 30 Genres in 30 Days DATE: 4 Weeks Starting January 4, 2027 LOCATION: Online via Writing Workshops Dallas Get ready to discover the magic of different genres in this fun and interactive 30-day workshop tailored for short story writers. Whether you’re into mystery, romance, horror, or science fiction, this workshop will help you grasp the unique elements and essentials of each genre. With 30 engaging prompts, you’ll master how to seamlessly blend popular genre traditions into your stories, no matter if you usually write microfiction, flash fiction, or short stories. This workshop is the perfect opportunity for fiction writers aiming to enhance their craft by gaining a deeper understanding of genres. Grow with Van Gogh: A 30 Day Creative Challenge DATES: 4 Weeks Starting Monday, March 1st, 2027 TIME: Asynchronous via Writing Workshops Secluded in a small village outside of Paris, the famous impressionist artist Vincent van Gogh spent the final 70 days of his life doing what he loved: painting every day. This remarkable period and astonishing burst of creativity inspires this unique workshop. Grow with Van Gogh is a 30-day challenge for writers, artists, and all creatives looking to generate new work and push their boundaries. This four-week workshop includes a daily prompt inspired by the life and work of Vincent van Gogh. Whether you're putting words on a page, paint on a canvas, or lens to the world, this challenge invites you to show up daily and create. Vincent van Gogh is one of the most prolific and famous artists of all time. He is also perhaps the most misunderstood. A tribute to Vincent’s relentless creative spirit, this workshop takes a close look at the artist while allowing participants to respond to and reflect on van Gogh’s life through their own creative voyage.

Sip + Create Van Gogh's Sunflowers DATE: Saturday, September 26th, 2026 TIME: 6:00PM - 8:00PM LOCATION: Merge Art Studio, 2000 Nance St. Studio B-126 ​ In this writing + art workshop, we'll explore one of the most iconic artists of all time: Vincent Van Gogh. Inspired by Van Gogh's famous sunflowers, we'll paint sunny summer sunflowers and incorporate Van Gogh's writing into our creative practice. Van Gogh was not only a talented painter but also a lifelong letter writer. This unique workshop will give you an opportunity to learn about Van Gogh's life and create a piece of art in the spirit of one of the most popular artists in history. Writing the Book-Length Poetry Collection DATES: Four Weeks Starting October 5th, 2026 TIME: Asynchronous via Writing Workshops This online poetry workshop is built for new and emerging poets ready to gather their work into a cohesive manuscript. Open to all levels and all genres of poetry, it's ideal for writers who have poems on the page but feel overwhelmed by the task of shaping them into a chapbook or full-length book. By the end of this online writing class, you'll have the skills to move from a folder of individual poems toward a publishable manuscript — and a clear understanding of how to submit and market your book of poetry. Sip + Create Fifth Ward Art Walk DATE: Saturday, November 14th, 2026 TIME: 4:30PM - 6:30 PM LOCATION: Houston's Historic Fifth Ward (Starting and ending outside Saint Arnold Brewing at 2000 Lyons Ave.) Houston is an art-lovers city! Join us for a guided tour of the art murals of Houston's historic Fifth Ward. This tour starts and ends at Saint Arnold Brewing and explores the nearby artwork, including Saint Arnold's famous art cars, Meow Wolf, and other neighborhood art. Come with your walking shoes ready to learn about the history of Houston and its many talented muralists. Sip + Create Holiday Cards DATE: December 12th, 2026 TIME: 4:30PM LOCATION: Merge Art Studio, 2000 Nance St. Studio B-126 ​Join us for a cozy holiday card-making sesh where you can explore your creative side and make your own poetry-themed holiday cards. In this creative session, we'll use books and texts from the December cultural holidays — Christmas, Bodhi Day, Hanukkah, Diwali, and Kwanzaa—to write poems and create our own holiday cards. Learn about the world's holidays, enjoy a cozy holiday beverage, and meet other creatives.

Self-Paced Workshops (Sign Up Anytime!)

Self-Paced Course: 30 Poems In 30 Days DATE: Ongoing TIME: Asynchronous, Self-paced via Poetry Barn PRICE: $149 This class came out of NaPoWriMo (National Poetry Writing Month), which happens every year in April. Similarly, the goal of this self-paced class is to write 30 poems in 30 days. However, you might write one poem a day, or several poems in a day, and then give yourself a break. It’s totally up to you! Whether you’re writing to a specific theme, assembling a group of poems for a chapbook, or you want to try writing a longer poetic sequence, this workshop is meant to support you with generative prompts and experiences to get you creating plenty of new work. Self-Paced Course: Journaling for Poets DATE: Ongoing TIME: Asynchronous, Self-paced via Poetry Barn PRICE: $99 Poets are observers. One way to keep track of your observations and ideas is through a writing journal. In this workshop, we'll cover the basics of journaling for poets, not just as a method of processing and keeping track of your thoughts, but as a method of improving your writing life and working towards a career as a writer.  In this workshop, you'll cover how to manage large ideas or projects, track submissions, create goals, revising, and more, all while exploring popular methods of journaling to find the one that works for you. If you feel out of sorts or disorganized in your writing life, this workshop is for you!

Self-Paced Course: Queer Poetics DATE: Ongoing ​TIME: Asynchronous, Self-paced via Poetry Barn ​PRICE: $99 This workshop is an intersectional primer on LGBTQIA+ writers throughout the history of poetry. We’ll explore poets like Walt Whitman, Adrienne Rich, Allen Ginsberg, and Audre Lorde, but also the contemporary queer poets who have catapulted into the mainstream like Jericho Brown and Danez Smith. We’ll write poems alongside and inspired by the voices of queer poetics. This class is meant both for writers who want to explore their queerness and for writers who want to learn more about the history of queer poetry. Self-Paced Course: Writing Resistance Through Erasure, Found Text & Visual Poetry DATE: Ongoing TIME: Asynchronous, Self-paced via Poetry Barn PRICE: $99 Hybrid poetry forms can be a powerful form of resistance. From Jerrod Schwarz’s erasure of Trump’s inaugural speech to Niina Pollari’s black outs of the N-400 citizenship form, contemporary poets are engaging with the world through text, creating new and challenging works of art. Heralded by the rise of the “Instapoet,” visual works are a way to take poetry one step further by crafting new forms and structures that often transcend the page.

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Pivot! Pivot!

Dear fellow society of the strange,

If you have been following me for a while, you probably know that the summer is a rough time for me, as someone with reverse seasonal depression. Which is why, around September, I suddenly pop out of my coffin and come alive again. For my loved ones, there’s a bit of whiplash as the first day it’s cool outside, my mood totally changes. As I age, I’m learning to embrace the pivot.

I’ve been watching an inordinate amount of competitive cooking shows. One of my favorites is Next Level Chef with Gordon Ramsay. On that show, there is a tight timeline for every cook they have to do. When something isn’t working, the chefs call it pivoting. A pivot is a point where you realize what you were doing wasn’t working, and you switch it up. You remove the garnish, abandon the first idea, and sometimes leave a whole steak on the grill. But what often results is a better dish.

This summer’s pivot point for me was shifting some of my workshops, getting a few things accepted that have forced me to rethink my marketing plans for the next year, and finding a new art to enjoy as a relaxation from all of those above things that needed to change. (The relaxation art is pink eraser art! You can find out about it on my Insta.)

I cannot understate how useful a skill flexibility is for the creative person. For me, this summer-to-fall moment is always a pivot, and it’s often reflected in my creativity as I transition from feeling like everything is hard to being more inspired in my work.

I hope you find the pivot point this fall.

Write what you love, love what you write.

As a reminder, if you love what I do and want to support me, you can now upgrade to this newsletter to get extra-weird perks:

• At least one subscriber-only post per month

• Support me, your corporeal host, for less than a cup of coffee

• Bragging rights on being an absolute angel sent from heaven who loves freelancers and supports indie writers

• A 20% discount on any of my editing services

I'm a working narrative artist, and you can catch some of my upcoming in-person workshops happening at my art studio, MERGE, in 2026:

Probably from PANK 💀

Every Weird Circular, I list upcoming opportunities to publish your writing geared toward writers of the weird (sci-fi, fantasy, horror, speculative!) I prioritize PAID opportunities by markets I trust and try to vet as much as I can.

Upcoming Submission Windows:

• Femku: Deadline 9/30: Haiku and related forms, poetry (4-8 poems). Open to women, non-binary, & trans-identifying poets only. Not a paying venue.

• The Neurodiversiverse: Bridging Worlds (Thinking Ink Press): Deadline 10/1: Theme: Aliens and neurodivergent experiences. Short Stories (up to 15k words), Poetry (up to 200 lines), black and white illustrations. Pays $50-100.

• Otherside: Deadlines vary in October: Theme: Exploration. Short stories (up to 4k words), poetry (up to 3 poems under 100 lines). Pays .08/word/$50 a poem.

• Plott Hound: Deadline: 10/15: Stories with anthropomorphized animals as viewpoint characters and protagonists. Short stories (up to 5k words), poetry (up to 5 poems), nonfiction (up to 2.5k words). Pays $50-100.

• manywor(l)ds: Open September-October. Limited demographic (queer/disability). Text or media (open genre). Pays $10.

Need more submission ideas? Check the Grinder's newest markets, Duotrope's calendar, Submittable’s Discover Feature, Heavy Feather Review’s Where to Submit, SFPA's Speculative Poetry Markets, Horror Tree, Moksha's Open Publications, or The International Writer’s Collective Blog.

I fear I’ve gotten too far away from the “weird” part of the circular. This month’s prompts are all a bit strange and unexpected. Don’t think too hard about them, just try them!

Prompt #1: exercise for destruction of boredom

This is a weird prompt I found via LitHub from Lucy Ives:

Give a friend, acquaintance, or neighbor an unexpected gift. Let the gift be as small and inexpensive as possible (free, if you can swing it). Document what takes place. Begin a diary of gifts you give and receive.

Bonus Round: Give a gift you found in nature, like a feather or acorn.

Prompt #2: A Body Is a Body

Go outside (your yard, the park, a bench), and do something with your body. Experience bodied experience. What do you feel in your body?

Bonus Round: What would it be like if you didn’t have part of your body?

Prompt #3: Doodles

Open your notebook (or computer drafting program if you prefer) and doodle for a few minutes. If you get stuck, try doodling something on your desk or in the room with you.

Bonus Round: Where did your doodling take you? What if your doodle could come to life?

What I’m Consuming This Month (Literally, it’s in my brain-belly)

📖 Weird Book of the Month: How to Piss Off Men: 109 Things to Say to Shatter the Male Ego

My sister sent me this book for my birthday, along with a middle finger necklace. It’s like she knows me. Here’s one of my fav quotes from the book:

🧵 Craft Article of the Month: Romani Poetics, Oral Tradition, Narrative, and Survival Trades by Jezmina Von Thiele

This is a somewhat dense article, but it has some fantastic writing prompts inspired by Romani poetics that I really love, including this one:

Writing prompts after reading Papusza and Luminiţa Mihai Cioabă:

1. Address an element of the natural world as a family member.

2. Place your speaker in a close relationship with a formidable mythic or folkloric figure.

🎵 Music to Write by: Phthalo by Rabbitology

Rabbitology is a Michigan-based alt band led by Nat Timmerman. They create what they call “sonic short stories”. Phthalo, their latest 6-song EP, reminds me strongly of Florence and the Machine. While it has lyrics, they merge easily into the background while writing. This album is pure vibes, and I want to write a whole poetry collection while listening to it.

This newsletter is entirely run by me, Holly, your corporeal host. I’m just a bundle of anxiety shoved into a sweater and glasses, fueled by caffeine-free-zero-sugar Coke and feminine rage. I really, really love having you around, though. So if you want to keep reading, please consider becoming a subscriber: (please don’t make me join Substack.)

I’m open again for editing in October!

Upcoming Workshops from Your Host with the Most Writing Prompts, Holly Lyn Walrath

Sip + Create Goth Night DATE: Saturday, October 10th, 2026 TIME: 4:30PM - 6:30 PM LOCATION: Merge Art Studio, 2000 Nance St. Studio B-126 ​Bust out your black velvet because this is an art night for the goths! To celebrate Halloween and spooky season, join MERGE for a special all-black painting and poetry night. The challenge for this sip and create will be to create artwork that pairs dark poetry with our favorite color: Black (or maybe really really really dark gray). Attendees are welcome to dress up in their spookiest duds. Hosted by your resident emo, Holly Lyn Walrath, "Houston's most darksome poet". Journaling for Writers DATES: Four Weeks Starting December 7th, 2026 TIME: Asynchronous via Writing Workshops Journaling is proven to boost mental health and help focus your thoughts — and for writers, it can be so much more than that. In this creative writing workshop, you'll learn a range of journaling techniques geared specifically toward the writing life, exploring journaling not just as a way to process and track your thoughts, but as a method for improving your craft and building a sustainable career as a writer. 30 Genres in 30 Days DATE: 4 Weeks Starting January 4, 2027 LOCATION: Online via Writing Workshops Dallas Get ready to discover the magic of different genres in this fun and interactive 30-day workshop tailored for short story writers. Whether you’re into mystery, romance, horror, or science fiction, this workshop will help you grasp the unique elements and essentials of each genre. With 30 engaging prompts, you’ll master how to seamlessly blend popular genre traditions into your stories, no matter if you usually write microfiction, flash fiction, or short stories. This workshop is the perfect opportunity for fiction writers aiming to enhance their craft by gaining a deeper understanding of genres. Grow with Van Gogh: A 30 Day Creative Challenge DATES: 4 Weeks Starting Monday, March 1st, 2027 TIME: Asynchronous via Writing Workshops Secluded in a small village outside of Paris, the famous impressionist artist Vincent van Gogh spent the final 70 days of his life doing what he loved: painting every day. This remarkable period and astonishing burst of creativity inspires this unique workshop. Grow with Van Gogh is a 30-day challenge for writers, artists, and all creatives looking to generate new work and push their boundaries. This four-week workshop includes a daily prompt inspired by the life and work of Vincent van Gogh. Whether you're putting words on a page, paint on a canvas, or lens to the world, this challenge invites you to show up daily and create. Vincent van Gogh is one of the most prolific and famous artists of all time. He is also perhaps the most misunderstood. A tribute to Vincent’s relentless creative spirit, this workshop takes a close look at the artist while allowing participants to respond to and reflect on van Gogh’s life through their own creative voyage.

Sip + Create Van Gogh's Sunflowers DATE: Saturday, September 26th, 2026 TIME: 6:00PM - 8:00PM LOCATION: Merge Art Studio, 2000 Nance St. Studio B-126 ​ In this writing + art workshop, we'll explore one of the most iconic artists of all time: Vincent Van Gogh. Inspired by Van Gogh's famous sunflowers, we'll paint sunny summer sunflowers and incorporate Van Gogh's writing into our creative practice. Van Gogh was not only a talented painter but also a lifelong letter writer. This unique workshop will give you an opportunity to learn about Van Gogh's life and create a piece of art in the spirit of one of the most popular artists in history. Writing the Book-Length Poetry Collection DATES: Four Weeks Starting October 5th, 2026 TIME: Asynchronous via Writing Workshops This online poetry workshop is built for new and emerging poets ready to gather their work into a cohesive manuscript. Open to all levels and all genres of poetry, it's ideal for writers who have poems on the page but feel overwhelmed by the task of shaping them into a chapbook or full-length book. By the end of this online writing class, you'll have the skills to move from a folder of individual poems toward a publishable manuscript — and a clear understanding of how to submit and market your book of poetry. Sip + Create Fifth Ward Art Walk DATE: Saturday, November 14th, 2026 TIME: 4:30PM - 6:30 PM LOCATION: Houston's Historic Fifth Ward (Starting and ending outside Saint Arnold Brewing at 2000 Lyons Ave.) Houston is an art-lovers city! Join us for a guided tour of the art murals of Houston's historic Fifth Ward. This tour starts and ends at Saint Arnold Brewing and explores the nearby artwork, including Saint Arnold's famous art cars, Meow Wolf, and other neighborhood art. Come with your walking shoes ready to learn about the history of Houston and its many talented muralists. Sip + Create Holiday Cards DATE: December 12th, 2026 TIME: 4:30PM LOCATION: Merge Art Studio, 2000 Nance St. Studio B-126 ​Join us for a cozy holiday card-making sesh where you can explore your creative side and make your own poetry-themed holiday cards. In this creative session, we'll use books and texts from the December cultural holidays — Christmas, Bodhi Day, Hanukkah, Diwali, and Kwanzaa—to write poems and create our own holiday cards. Learn about the world's holidays, enjoy a cozy holiday beverage, and meet other creatives.

Self-Paced Workshops (Sign Up Anytime!)

Self-Paced Course: 30 Poems In 30 Days DATE: Ongoing TIME: Asynchronous, Self-paced via Poetry Barn PRICE: $149 This class came out of NaPoWriMo (National Poetry Writing Month), which happens every year in April. Similarly, the goal of this self-paced class is to write 30 poems in 30 days. However, you might write one poem a day, or several poems in a day, and then give yourself a break. It’s totally up to you! Whether you’re writing to a specific theme, assembling a group of poems for a chapbook, or you want to try writing a longer poetic sequence, this workshop is meant to support you with generative prompts and experiences to get you creating plenty of new work. Self-Paced Course: Journaling for Poets DATE: Ongoing TIME: Asynchronous, Self-paced via Poetry Barn PRICE: $99 Poets are observers. One way to keep track of your observations and ideas is through a writing journal. In this workshop, we'll cover the basics of journaling for poets, not just as a method of processing and keeping track of your thoughts, but as a method of improving your writing life and working towards a career as a writer.  In this workshop, you'll cover how to manage large ideas or projects, track submissions, create goals, revising, and more, all while exploring popular methods of journaling to find the one that works for you. If you feel out of sorts or disorganized in your writing life, this workshop is for you!

Self-Paced Course: Queer Poetics DATE: Ongoing ​TIME: Asynchronous, Self-paced via Poetry Barn ​PRICE: $99 This workshop is an intersectional primer on LGBTQIA+ writers throughout the history of poetry. We’ll explore poets like Walt Whitman, Adrienne Rich, Allen Ginsberg, and Audre Lorde, but also the contemporary queer poets who have catapulted into the mainstream like Jericho Brown and Danez Smith. We’ll write poems alongside and inspired by the voices of queer poetics. This class is meant both for writers who want to explore their queerness and for writers who want to learn more about the history of queer poetry. Self-Paced Course: Writing Resistance Through Erasure, Found Text & Visual Poetry DATE: Ongoing TIME: Asynchronous, Self-paced via Poetry Barn PRICE: $99 Hybrid poetry forms can be a powerful form of resistance. From Jerrod Schwarz’s erasure of Trump’s inaugural speech to Niina Pollari’s black outs of the N-400 citizenship form, contemporary poets are engaging with the world through text, creating new and challenging works of art. Heralded by the rise of the “Instapoet,” visual works are a way to take poetry one step further by crafting new forms and structures that often transcend the page.

Wow, you sure do read a lot. Thanks for sticking with me all the way to the bottom down here. It’s kind of lonely. Here’s a kitten. (He’s up for adoption!)

You also get an ad. Everyone gets an ad. Ads make the newsletter go. Umm, that’s all I have to say about the ad.

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I’ve written before about the idea of “creative inputs” (Rekindling the Creative Spark, Your Creativity Is a Garden). For writers, artists, photographers, and basically anyone creative, it’s really important to keep a steady stream of inspiration. Creative inputs are basically activities that stimulate your creative brain: visiting museums, listening to new music, meditating, going to a bookstore, reading a new book, hanging out with other creatives, experimenting, playing, collaborating, etc.

Creativity doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It comes from your imagination. But if you don’t feed the “plant” that is your imagination, it dries up and withers. We might call this writer’s block. It’s mental exhaustion. Burnout. Overwhelm or overload. Whatever you call it, this kind of inability to move your creative needle to full comes from, in my opinion, isolation.

So how do you un-isolate? Lately, I’ve been maximizing my creative inputs through the art of Art Maxxing. This is a simple method that can help you both generate new work and at the same time, get inspired again.

Creative Challenges Are a Way to Find Your Voice

This month, I’m once again teaching my popular “30 Stories in 30 Days” workshop. I run this one every summer, and I also run a similar one each January that focuses on genre (currently on sale!). The 30 Stories workshop is geared specifically toward flash fiction writers, and each daily prompt explores a different short story structure. I created this workshop because I realized that while novels have many resources for story structure, short stories have very few. In the class, we try out structures like the triptych or slippery slope.

In the first week, it just so happened that almost all the students chose to share their triptych stories for critique. This is a structure with three parts: usually a beginning, middle, and end. I give my students the prompt below:

Write a story with a clear beginning, middle, and end. Denote these sections in some obvious way and write them as fragments. You can number them or use subheadings to title them.

They marveled at how, although they each chose the same prompt, they all approached it differently. Some flipped the script, making the beginning the first fragment. Others expanded the story into a four-act structure with four fragments.

This is what’s fascinating about creative challenges. It’s my teaching philosophy that no two students are alike because no two creatives are alike—we all have different backgrounds and interests that show up in our work. There’s something special about creating to a deadline, working daily to meet a goal. Everyone approaches a challenge differently.

30 Genres in 30 Days
DATE: 4 Weeks Starting January 4, 2027
LOCATION: Online via Writing Workshops Dallas

Get ready to discover the magic of different genres in this fun and interactive 30-day workshop tailored for short story writers. Whether you’re into mystery, romance, horror, or science fiction, this workshop will help you grasp the unique elements and essentials of each genre. With 30 engaging prompts, you’ll master how to seamlessly blend popular genre traditions into your stories, no matter if you usually write microfiction, flash fiction, or short stories. This workshop is the perfect opportunity for fiction writers aiming to enhance their craft by gaining a deeper understanding of genres.

Structuring Projects Around the 30-Day Challenge

In January, I’ll be a part of the MATCH Houston Mix-Match festival. It’s a Houston fine arts festival that focuses on interdisciplinary arts. For my project, I’ll be printing iconic texts important to Houston’s history onto fabric, then painting over them to erase them.

For me, this constitutes a creative challenge. I haven’t seen the space allotted to me yet, but my plan is to make about ten large-scale fabric artworks. Ten works in about six months doesn’t seem that hard, right? It feels like a lifetime to me, someone who is used to much shorter timelines. It’s downright leisurely. The caveat? I’ve never worked with textiles before. So that in itself is a challenge!

Challenging myself with tight deadlines has always been part of my creative practice, though. My first-ever art exhibition took place on Sabine Street in Sawyer Yards. The gallery there is essentially one long hallway. I was chosen as the first artist to exhibit there, and as a result, I had the least amount of time to prepare. That means that I had to make about 20-30 new large-scale erasure paintings in about 30 days. (You can see this project on my Instagram if you scroll back far enough.)

Even before that, though, I was doing 30-day challenges. I was a NaNoWriMo-er (National Novel Writing Month, where you write a novel in a month) for a while, and I did NaPoWriMo (National Poetry Month, where you write 30 poems in 30 days).

I found that creating in short bursts really worked for me. Some months, I don’t have the capacity to work daily. So by shortening my practice to just 30 days of hard work, I can really achieve a lot. And for poetry, it just so happens that most chapbooks are around 30 pages of poetry. So if you want to write a book, you can get a starting draft down in 30 days if you push yourself.

Community: Where for art thou?

One thing I loved about the Mix-Match festival process is that it was a peer-reviewed artist call. That means that I read a ton of the other artists’ submissions and got to see how everyone approached the call differently.

In my 30-day workshops, my students often build a miniature community that holds for those four weeks, then dissipates after. This kind of pop-up creative community is really valuable. I was reminded of that this weekend when I went to a local print shop to attend a printmaking workshop. Workshops exist for a short period—sometimes just an hour or two. In that time, we encourage each other and create together. How much you get out of the experience depends on how much you put into it.

Doing a creative challenge in community is a great way to make friends and connections. But with the recent closure of NaNoWriMo (full story at LitHub), I think it’s important to note that you don’t have to have a class or other people to do a creative challenge. You can make one up. You can decide how many days or how many years you want it to be. You can decide if it isn’t working for you.

Whenever a community disbands, there’s always the possibility for new ones to pop up. But here’s the rub: sometimes YOU have to be the community. So I encourage you to start up your own challenges and share them with your friends. Be the type of person you would want to create with!

In the end, there’s no wrong or right way to create.

Upcoming Workshops from Your Host with the Most Writing Prompts, Holly Lyn Walrath

Sip + Create Goth Night DATE: Saturday, October 10th, 2026 TIME: 4:30PM - 6:30 PM LOCATION: Merge Art Studio, 2000 Nance St. Studio B-126 ​Bust out your black velvet because this is an art night for the goths! To celebrate Halloween and spooky season, join MERGE for a special all-black painting and poetry night. The challenge for this sip and create will be to create artwork that pairs dark poetry with our favorite color: Black (or maybe really really really dark gray). Attendees are welcome to dress up in their spookiest duds. Hosted by your resident emo, Holly Lyn Walrath, "Houston's most darksome poet". Journaling for Writers DATES: Four Weeks Starting December 7th, 2026 TIME: Asynchronous via Writing Workshops Journaling is proven to boost mental health and help focus your thoughts — and for writers, it can be so much more than that. In this creative writing workshop, you'll learn a range of journaling techniques geared specifically toward the writing life, exploring journaling not just as a way to process and track your thoughts, but as a method for improving your craft and building a sustainable career as a writer. 30 Genres in 30 Days DATE: 4 Weeks Starting January 4, 2027 LOCATION: Online via Writing Workshops Dallas Get ready to discover the magic of different genres in this fun and interactive 30-day workshop tailored for short story writers. Whether you’re into mystery, romance, horror, or science fiction, this workshop will help you grasp the unique elements and essentials of each genre. With 30 engaging prompts, you’ll master how to seamlessly blend popular genre traditions into your stories, no matter if you usually write microfiction, flash fiction, or short stories. This workshop is the perfect opportunity for fiction writers aiming to enhance their craft by gaining a deeper understanding of genres.

Sip + Create Van Gogh's Sunflowers DATE: Saturday, September 26th, 2026 TIME: 6:00PM - 8:00PM LOCATION: Merge Art Studio, 2000 Nance St. Studio B-126 ​ In this writing + art workshop, we'll explore one of the most iconic artists of all time: Vincent Van Gogh. Inspired by Van Gogh's famous sunflowers, we'll paint sunny summer sunflowers and incorporate Van Gogh's writing into our creative practice. Van Gogh was not only a talented painter but also a lifelong letter writer. This unique workshop will give you an opportunity to learn about Van Gogh's life and create a piece of art in the spirit of one of the most popular artists in history. Writing the Book-Length Poetry Collection DATES: Four Weeks Starting October 5th, 2026 TIME: Asynchronous via Writing Workshops This online poetry workshop is built for new and emerging poets ready to gather their work into a cohesive manuscript. Open to all levels and all genres of poetry, it's ideal for writers who have poems on the page but feel overwhelmed by the task of shaping them into a chapbook or full-length book. By the end of this online writing class, you'll have the skills to move from a folder of individual poems toward a publishable manuscript — and a clear understanding of how to submit and market your book of poetry. Sip + Create Fifth Ward Art Walk DATE: Saturday, November 14th, 2026 TIME: 4:30PM - 6:30 PM LOCATION: Houston's Historic Fifth Ward (Starting and ending outside Saint Arnold Brewing at 2000 Lyons Ave.) Houston is an art-lovers city! Join us for a guided tour of the art murals of Houston's historic Fifth Ward. This tour starts and ends at Saint Arnold Brewing and explores the nearby artwork, including Saint Arnold's famous art cars, Meow Wolf, and other neighborhood art. Come with your walking shoes ready to learn about the history of Houston and its many talented muralists. Sip + Create Holiday Cards DATE: December 12th, 2026 TIME: 4:30PM LOCATION: Merge Art Studio, 2000 Nance St. Studio B-126 ​Join us for a cozy holiday card-making sesh where you can explore your creative side and make your own poetry-themed holiday cards. In this creative session, we'll use books and texts from the December cultural holidays — Christmas, Bodhi Day, Hanukkah, Diwali, and Kwanzaa—to write poems and create our own holiday cards. Learn about the world's holidays, enjoy a cozy holiday beverage, and meet other creatives.

Self-Paced Workshops (Sign Up Anytime!)

Self-Paced Course: 30 Poems In 30 Days DATE: Ongoing TIME: Asynchronous, Self-paced via Poetry Barn PRICE: $149 This class came out of NaPoWriMo (National Poetry Writing Month), which happens every year in April. Similarly, the goal of this self-paced class is to write 30 poems in 30 days. However, you might write one poem a day, or several poems in a day, and then give yourself a break. It’s totally up to you! Whether you’re writing to a specific theme, assembling a group of poems for a chapbook, or you want to try writing a longer poetic sequence, this workshop is meant to support you with generative prompts and experiences to get you creating plenty of new work. Self-Paced Course: Journaling for Poets DATE: Ongoing TIME: Asynchronous, Self-paced via Poetry Barn PRICE: $99 Poets are observers. One way to keep track of your observations and ideas is through a writing journal. In this workshop, we'll cover the basics of journaling for poets, not just as a method of processing and keeping track of your thoughts, but as a method of improving your writing life and working towards a career as a writer.  In this workshop, you'll cover how to manage large ideas or projects, track submissions, create goals, revising, and more, all while exploring popular methods of journaling to find the one that works for you. If you feel out of sorts or disorganized in your writing life, this workshop is for you!

Self-Paced Course: Queer Poetics DATE: Ongoing ​TIME: Asynchronous, Self-paced via Poetry Barn ​PRICE: $99 This workshop is an intersectional primer on LGBTQIA+ writers throughout the history of poetry. We’ll explore poets like Walt Whitman, Adrienne Rich, Allen Ginsberg, and Audre Lorde, but also the contemporary queer poets who have catapulted into the mainstream like Jericho Brown and Danez Smith. We’ll write poems alongside and inspired by the voices of queer poetics. This class is meant both for writers who want to explore their queerness and for writers who want to learn more about the history of queer poetry. Self-Paced Course: Writing Resistance Through Erasure, Found Text & Visual Poetry DATE: Ongoing TIME: Asynchronous, Self-paced via Poetry Barn PRICE: $99 Hybrid poetry forms can be a powerful form of resistance. From Jerrod Schwarz’s erasure of Trump’s inaugural speech to Niina Pollari’s black outs of the N-400 citizenship form, contemporary poets are engaging with the world through text, creating new and challenging works of art. Heralded by the rise of the “Instapoet,” visual works are a way to take poetry one step further by crafting new forms and structures that often transcend the page.

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Welcome back to my series on practical ways to finish your book using the power of psychology. Each post in this ten-part series presents a different method you can try to finally just GET IT DONE and WRITE THE FRIGGIN BOOK. If you haven’t read the other articles in this series, you can check them out below:

• Part One: JUST DO IT

• Part Two: If-Then Planning

• Part Three: Trick Yourself

• Part Four: Gamify: Make Writing Fun

• Part Five: Manifesting Your Goals

• Part Six: Make a 6-Point To-Do List

• Part Seven: Give Yourself a Break with the Zeigarnik Effect

8. The One-Touch Rule: Do One Thing for Thirty Minutes

It’s so interesting to be coming back to this series now, when I recently had major abdominal surgery! When I started this series, I had just gotten into running. Now, I find myself back at the beginning again.

Having surgery wrecked my body. It quite literally took me back to square one. And if that’s not a metaphor for how taking a break from writing can feel, I don’t know what is. Right now, I’m not running, but I plan to get back into it the moment I’m cleared by my doctors and physical therapists. And the way I’m going to get back to running? Just a little bit at a time.

When I first started running, I struggled to run constantly for more than about 30 seconds. I could walk forever (I’ve frequently had 30k+ days while traveling), but running at a constant pace really wore me out. So I tried interval training—running for 30 seconds or a minute at a time. I’m still working my way up, but at my peak, I can run for about a minute straight before taking a break. My pacing also got better, so at peak, I can run a 5k in intervals, which takes me about 45 minutes. I never believed I could run for that long. Mostly because I struggle to focus on one thing for a few minutes, let alone hours.

If you struggle with multitasking, this is the rule for you. The “One Touch” rule is the idea that you should try focusing on just one thing until you complete that task. For example, if your goal is to write 1,000 words, you would sit down, remove all distractions, and not get up again until those words are done.

I have to tell you that I use this method every. single. week.

Every week, I have a “writing group” scheduled with a few writing buddies. We have a regular calendar invite and Zoom. At the beginning, we meet and talk about our week, check in on our plans to write, and then we spend about an hour writing. We aim for an hour—but sometimes we only make it to about 30 minutes. This is a group I didn’t start, but it’s one I’ve stuck with consistently. It works for me. Each time, I write, even when I’m not in the mood.

The One Touch Rule is also associated with the “Daily Kaizen” method. It’s from the Japanese idea that you can continuously improve by making slow, incremental changes. You can apply this to anything. For example, to get through your emails quickly, try only “touching” that email once (finish the “task” related to the email, or else transfer that task to a to-do list or archive so it’s out of your inbox.)

I’ve also found this to be valuable for my work as an editor. When I edit a book, I sit down and read it straight through in one sitting. Then, I go back later and edit it in one sitting. I don’t check my email, I don’t look at anything else. I focus on that author’s words and their story until I’ve made all my comments. For that day, that writer is my one focus.

You may have heard of the One Touch Rule in relationship to cleaning. This is the idea that when cleaning, you set a timer and work on one area for a short time. In that time, you try to only touch anything once. Say to yourself: Don’t put it down, put it away.

The writing version of this might be, “Don’t put it away, keep working on it until it’s done.”

The One Touch rule is particularly useful in revision. When sitting down to revise, decide on your focus for that session. For example, you might focus on JUST doing a big-picture read-through of your draft. What do you have on the page, and what is missing? You might write notes to yourself as you read, but resist the temptation to tinker or rewrite as you go. This helps you see what you actually have written.

Psychology says that clutter can confuse the brain. A 2010 study showed that a cluttered home caused people’s cortisol levels (specifically women, who carry most of the mental load) to spike. The same goes for writing. If your writing folder is too cluttered with unfinished stories and unorganized drafts, you might get cognitive overload. You might look at it and go: "I don’t know where to start.”

My advice to you, if that’s the case, is to sit down and take the time to fix it. You might be surprised by how much this makes you feel better, even if you loathe the process. This looks different for every writer. Some like having a lot of drafts. Others, like me, tend to save over the same draft (I NEVER save more than one file of a story or poem!) There’s no wrong or right way here, but probably every writer can benefit from a bit of writing de-cluttering.

The One Touch rule can be helpful for focusing. I struggle to stay on-task. My mouse starts to linger over to click on the internet, or I start looking at my phone. I get distracted or frustrated. There are tons of ways to mitigate this that I’ve seen—from people writing on a device with no internet to simply going outside where there is no wifi.

But the reality is—these are just tricks, right? The true hard part comes in doing the work. In the end, the way to finish any project is to do it. So by setting a timer and forcing yourself to do just ONE thing—you’re training your brain to stay on task.

How many 30-minute sessions would it take to finish a book?

Why don’t you try it and find out?

Upcoming Workshops from Your Host with the Most Writing Prompts, Holly Lyn Walrath

30 Stories in 30 Days DATE: 4 Weeks Starting July 1st TIME: Asynchronous via Writing Workshops This generative workshop is chock full of 30 writing prompts for short story writers. Whether you write micro fiction, flash fiction, or short stories, these 30 prompts are meant to inspire and support you in this unique writing challenge. You've heard of NaPoWriMo (National Poetry Writing Month), where poets write 30 poems in 30 days, and you've probably heard of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), where writers try to write a novel in a month. Now, you can do the same with short stories. Whether you're writing to a specific theme, assembling stories for a collection, or want to try writing a series of connected stories, this workshop will explore new contemporary structures like The Tryptich or The Wikipedia Entry. Grow with Van Gogh: A 70-in-70 Challenge for Creatives  DATES: 10 Weeks Starting Tuesday, September 1st, 2026 TIME: Asynchronous via Writing Workshops Secluded in a small village outside of Paris, the famous impressionist artist Vincent van Gogh spent the final 70 days of his life doing what he loved: painting every day. This remarkable period and astonishing burst of creativity inspires this unique workshop. Grow with Van Gogh is a 70-day challenge for writers, artists, and all creatives looking to generate new work and push their boundaries. Sip + Create Goth Night DATE: Saturday, October 10th, 2026 TIME: 4:30PM - 6:30 PM LOCATION: Merge Art Studio, 2000 Nance St. Studio B-126 ​Bust out your black velvet because this is an art night for the goths! To celebrate Halloween and spooky season, join MERGE for a special all-black painting and poetry night. The challenge for this sip and create will be to create artwork that pairs dark poetry with our favorite color: Black (or maybe really really really dark gray). Attendees are welcome to dress up in their spookiest duds. Hosted by your resident emo, Holly Lyn Walrath, "Houston's most darksome poet". Journaling for Writers DATES: Four Weeks Starting December 7th, 2026 TIME: Asynchronous via Writing Workshops Journaling is proven to boost mental health and help focus your thoughts — and for writers, it can be so much more than that. In this creative writing workshop, you'll learn a range of journaling techniques geared specifically toward the writing life, exploring journaling not just as a way to process and track your thoughts, but as a method for improving your craft and building a sustainable career as a writer.

Sip + Create Rock Painting for Summer Gardens (+ Plant Swap!) DATE: Saturday, August 8th, 2026 TIME: 4:30PM - 6:30PM LOCATION: Merge Art Studio, 2000 Nance St. Studio B-126 ​Unwind with a refreshing drink and get creative as you transform ordinary rocks into colorful garden art. In this fun, beginner-friendly workshop, you'll learn simple painting techniques and design ideas to create unique decorations that add personality and charm to your summer garden. No experience needed—all supplies included! Also, participants are encouraged to bring a plant (or clipping) to swap with their fellow gardeners. Sip + Create Van Gogh's Sunflowers DATE: Saturday, September 26th, 2026 TIME: 6:00PM - 8:00PM LOCATION: Merge Art Studio, 2000 Nance St. Studio B-126 ​ In this writing + art workshop, we'll explore one of the most iconic artists of all time: Vincent Van Gogh. Inspired by Van Gogh's famous sunflowers, we'll paint sunny summer sunflowers and incorporate Van Gogh's writing into our creative practice. Van Gogh was not only a talented painter but also a lifelong letter writer. This unique workshop will give you an opportunity to learn about Van Gogh's life and create a piece of art in the spirit of one of the most popular artists in history. Writing the Book-Length Poetry Collection DATES: Four Weeks Starting October 5th, 2026 TIME: Asynchronous via Writing Workshops This online poetry workshop is built for new and emerging poets ready to gather their work into a cohesive manuscript. Open to all levels and all genres of poetry, it's ideal for writers who have poems on the page but feel overwhelmed by the task of shaping them into a chapbook or full-length book. By the end of this online writing class, you'll have the skills to move from a folder of individual poems toward a publishable manuscript — and a clear understanding of how to submit and market your book of poetry. Sip + Create Fifth Ward Art Walk DATE: Saturday, November 14th, 2026 TIME: 4:30PM - 6:30 PM LOCATION: Houston's Historic Fifth Ward (Starting and ending outside Saint Arnold Brewing at 2000 Lyons Ave.) Houston is an art-lovers city! Join us for a guided tour of the art murals of Houston's historic Fifth Ward. This tour starts and ends at Saint Arnold Brewing and explores the nearby artwork, including Saint Arnold's famous art cars, Meow Wolf, and other neighborhood art. Come with your walking shoes ready to learn about the history of Houston and its many talented muralists. Sip + Create Holiday Cards DATE: December 12th, 2026 TIME: 4:30PM LOCATION: Merge Art Studio, 2000 Nance St. Studio B-126 ​Join us for a cozy holiday card-making sesh where you can explore your creative side and make your own poetry-themed holiday cards. In this creative session, we'll use books and texts from the December cultural holidays — Christmas, Bodhi Day, Hanukkah, Diwali, and Kwanzaa—to write poems and create our own holiday cards. Learn about the world's holidays, enjoy a cozy holiday beverage, and meet other creatives.

Self-Paced Workshops (Sign Up Anytime!)

Self-Paced Course: 30 Poems In 30 Days DATE: Ongoing TIME: Asynchronous, Self-paced via Poetry Barn PRICE: $149 This class came out of NaPoWriMo (National Poetry Writing Month), which happens every year in April. Similarly, the goal of this self-paced class is to write 30 poems in 30 days. However, you might write one poem a day, or several poems in a day, and then give yourself a break. It’s totally up to you! Whether you’re writing to a specific theme, assembling a group of poems for a chapbook, or you want to try writing a longer poetic sequence, this workshop is meant to support you with generative prompts and experiences to get you creating plenty of new work. Self-Paced Course: Journaling for Poets DATE: Ongoing TIME: Asynchronous, Self-paced via Poetry Barn PRICE: $99 Poets are observers. One way to keep track of your observations and ideas is through a writing journal. In this workshop, we'll cover the basics of journaling for poets, not just as a method of processing and keeping track of your thoughts, but as a method of improving your writing life and working towards a career as a writer.  In this workshop, you'll cover how to manage large ideas or projects, track submissions, create goals, revising, and more, all while exploring popular methods of journaling to find the one that works for you. If you feel out of sorts or disorganized in your writing life, this workshop is for you!

Self-Paced Course: Queer Poetics DATE: Ongoing ​TIME: Asynchronous, Self-paced via Poetry Barn ​PRICE: $99 This workshop is an intersectional primer on LGBTQIA+ writers throughout the history of poetry. We’ll explore poets like Walt Whitman, Adrienne Rich, Allen Ginsberg, and Audre Lorde, but also the contemporary queer poets who have catapulted into the mainstream like Jericho Brown and Danez Smith. We’ll write poems alongside and inspired by the voices of queer poetics. This class is meant both for writers who want to explore their queerness and for writers who want to learn more about the history of queer poetry. Self-Paced Course: Writing Resistance Through Erasure, Found Text & Visual Poetry DATE: Ongoing TIME: Asynchronous, Self-paced via Poetry Barn PRICE: $99 Hybrid poetry forms can be a powerful form of resistance. From Jerrod Schwarz’s erasure of Trump’s inaugural speech to Niina Pollari’s black outs of the N-400 citizenship form, contemporary poets are engaging with the world through text, creating new and challenging works of art. Heralded by the rise of the “Instapoet,” visual works are a way to take poetry one step further by crafting new forms and structures that often transcend the page.

Around this time of year, I start to get that longing. That itch to sneak into a graveyard and lay beside a tombstone. That nostalgia for a crisp autumn morning. That urge to wear all black and lurk for the fun of it. If you’re like me and you come alive in the fall, here are 31 creative prompts to get you through the long days of summer.

What Is Summerween?

Summerween’s a term for when Halloween happens in the summer. But for me, it refers to that specific subset of the horror genre that crosses over with all things June, July, and August. From summer camp slashers to fairies who frequent summer houses, Summerween has some of my favorite horror tropes.

If you’re looking for a challenge this August, why not try out my 31 summerween prompts? These are meant for creatives in any field—from writers to painters to photographers. Interpret the prompts how you want and feel free to tag me on socials!

These prompts are meant to be lofi, by the way. I’m not explaining them because I want you to interpret them in your own way! Whatever they make you think of—just go with it!

31 Creative Prompts for Summerween

1. the grass is dying

2. a harvest moon bleeds

3. abandoned summer camp

4. mermaids wash up on shore

5. the library is haunted

6. final girl running

7. meet me in the corn maze

8. lost girls

9. possessed toys

10. night swimming

11. too many butterflies

12. sleepover at the oddity shop

13. memento mori

14. left alone on the hike

15. craven carnival

16. sentient sandcastle

17. nostalgia smells like . . .

18. no lifeguard at the pool

19. wheatfields and sunflowers

20. trapped on this island

21. before there were cell phones

22. sunset on the lake

23. liminal gas station

24. uncanny ice cream truck

25. treehouse portal

26. goth garden

27. the hum of bees

28. stargazing gone wrong

29. mushroom punk

30. the broomstick by the door

31. the last day of summer

If you enjoyed these prompts, be sure to check out my upcoming workshops for more inspiration. I hope you make it through to fall, my fellow ghoulies.

Upcoming Workshops from Your Host with the Most Writing Prompts, Holly Lyn Walrath

30 Stories in 30 Days DATE: 4 Weeks Starting July 1st TIME: Asynchronous via Writing Workshops This generative workshop is chock full of 30 writing prompts for short story writers. Whether you write micro fiction, flash fiction, or short stories, these 30 prompts are meant to inspire and support you in this unique writing challenge. You've heard of NaPoWriMo (National Poetry Writing Month), where poets write 30 poems in 30 days, and you've probably heard of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), where writers try to write a novel in a month. Now, you can do the same with short stories. Whether you're writing to a specific theme, assembling stories for a collection, or want to try writing a series of connected stories, this workshop will explore new contemporary structures like The Tryptich or The Wikipedia Entry. Grow with Van Gogh: A 70-in-70 Challenge for Creatives  DATES: 10 Weeks Starting Tuesday, September 1st, 2026 TIME: Asynchronous via Writing Workshops Secluded in a small village outside of Paris, the famous impressionist artist Vincent van Gogh spent the final 70 days of his life doing what he loved: painting every day. This remarkable period and astonishing burst of creativity inspires this unique workshop. Grow with Van Gogh is a 70-day challenge for writers, artists, and all creatives looking to generate new work and push their boundaries. Sip + Create Goth Night DATE: Saturday, October 10th, 2026 TIME: 4:30PM - 6:30 PM LOCATION: Merge Art Studio, 2000 Nance St. Studio B-126 ​Bust out your black velvet because this is an art night for the goths! To celebrate Halloween and spooky season, join MERGE for a special all-black painting and poetry night. The challenge for this sip and create will be to create artwork that pairs dark poetry with our favorite color: Black (or maybe really really really dark gray). Attendees are welcome to dress up in their spookiest duds. Hosted by your resident emo, Holly Lyn Walrath, "Houston's most darksome poet". Journaling for Writers DATES: Four Weeks Starting December 7th, 2026 TIME: Asynchronous via Writing Workshops Journaling is proven to boost mental health and help focus your thoughts — and for writers, it can be so much more than that. In this creative writing workshop, you'll learn a range of journaling techniques geared specifically toward the writing life, exploring journaling not just as a way to process and track your thoughts, but as a method for improving your craft and building a sustainable career as a writer.

Sip + Create Rock Painting for Summer Gardens (+ Plant Swap!) DATE: Saturday, August 8th, 2026 TIME: 4:30PM - 6:30PM LOCATION: Merge Art Studio, 2000 Nance St. Studio B-126 ​Unwind with a refreshing drink and get creative as you transform ordinary rocks into colorful garden art. In this fun, beginner-friendly workshop, you'll learn simple painting techniques and design ideas to create unique decorations that add personality and charm to your summer garden. No experience needed—all supplies included! Also, participants are encouraged to bring a plant (or clipping) to swap with their fellow gardeners. Sip + Create Van Gogh's Sunflowers DATE: Saturday, September 26th, 2026 TIME: 6:00PM - 8:00PM LOCATION: Merge Art Studio, 2000 Nance St. Studio B-126 ​ In this writing + art workshop, we'll explore one of the most iconic artists of all time: Vincent Van Gogh. Inspired by Van Gogh's famous sunflowers, we'll paint sunny summer sunflowers and incorporate Van Gogh's writing into our creative practice. Van Gogh was not only a talented painter but also a lifelong letter writer. This unique workshop will give you an opportunity to learn about Van Gogh's life and create a piece of art in the spirit of one of the most popular artists in history. Writing the Book-Length Poetry Collection DATES: Four Weeks Starting October 5th, 2026 TIME: Asynchronous via Writing Workshops This online poetry workshop is built for new and emerging poets ready to gather their work into a cohesive manuscript. Open to all levels and all genres of poetry, it's ideal for writers who have poems on the page but feel overwhelmed by the task of shaping them into a chapbook or full-length book. By the end of this online writing class, you'll have the skills to move from a folder of individual poems toward a publishable manuscript — and a clear understanding of how to submit and market your book of poetry. Sip + Create Fifth Ward Art Walk DATE: Saturday, November 14th, 2026 TIME: 4:30PM - 6:30 PM LOCATION: Houston's Historic Fifth Ward (Starting and ending outside Saint Arnold Brewing at 2000 Lyons Ave.) Houston is an art-lovers city! Join us for a guided tour of the art murals of Houston's historic Fifth Ward. This tour starts and ends at Saint Arnold Brewing and explores the nearby artwork, including Saint Arnold's famous art cars, Meow Wolf, and other neighborhood art. Come with your walking shoes ready to learn about the history of Houston and its many talented muralists. Sip + Create Holiday Cards DATE: December 12th, 2026 TIME: 4:30PM LOCATION: Merge Art Studio, 2000 Nance St. Studio B-126 ​Join us for a cozy holiday card-making sesh where you can explore your creative side and make your own poetry-themed holiday cards. In this creative session, we'll use books and texts from the December cultural holidays — Christmas, Bodhi Day, Hanukkah, Diwali, and Kwanzaa—to write poems and create our own holiday cards. Learn about the world's holidays, enjoy a cozy holiday beverage, and meet other creatives.

Self-Paced Workshops (Sign Up Anytime!)

Self-Paced Course: 30 Poems In 30 Days DATE: Ongoing TIME: Asynchronous, Self-paced via Poetry Barn PRICE: $149 This class came out of NaPoWriMo (National Poetry Writing Month), which happens every year in April. Similarly, the goal of this self-paced class is to write 30 poems in 30 days. However, you might write one poem a day, or several poems in a day, and then give yourself a break. It’s totally up to you! Whether you’re writing to a specific theme, assembling a group of poems for a chapbook, or you want to try writing a longer poetic sequence, this workshop is meant to support you with generative prompts and experiences to get you creating plenty of new work. Self-Paced Course: Journaling for Poets DATE: Ongoing TIME: Asynchronous, Self-paced via Poetry Barn PRICE: $99 Poets are observers. One way to keep track of your observations and ideas is through a writing journal. In this workshop, we'll cover the basics of journaling for poets, not just as a method of processing and keeping track of your thoughts, but as a method of improving your writing life and working towards a career as a writer.  In this workshop, you'll cover how to manage large ideas or projects, track submissions, create goals, revising, and more, all while exploring popular methods of journaling to find the one that works for you. If you feel out of sorts or disorganized in your writing life, this workshop is for you!

Self-Paced Course: Queer Poetics DATE: Ongoing ​TIME: Asynchronous, Self-paced via Poetry Barn ​PRICE: $99 This workshop is an intersectional primer on LGBTQIA+ writers throughout the history of poetry. We’ll explore poets like Walt Whitman, Adrienne Rich, Allen Ginsberg, and Audre Lorde, but also the contemporary queer poets who have catapulted into the mainstream like Jericho Brown and Danez Smith. We’ll write poems alongside and inspired by the voices of queer poetics. This class is meant both for writers who want to explore their queerness and for writers who want to learn more about the history of queer poetry. Self-Paced Course: Writing Resistance Through Erasure, Found Text & Visual Poetry DATE: Ongoing TIME: Asynchronous, Self-paced via Poetry Barn PRICE: $99 Hybrid poetry forms can be a powerful form of resistance. From Jerrod Schwarz’s erasure of Trump’s inaugural speech to Niina Pollari’s black outs of the N-400 citizenship form, contemporary poets are engaging with the world through text, creating new and challenging works of art. Heralded by the rise of the “Instapoet,” visual works are a way to take poetry one step further by crafting new forms and structures that often transcend the page.

Poet Andrew Joron said in 1988 that “Poetry is in some ways the most dangerous territory for SF to colonize…" (Synergy: New Science Fiction, Vol. 2). 38 years later, as we face yet another vote to enshrine poetry in its rightful place in the science fiction, fantasy, and horror (SFFH) cosmos with a permanent poetry Hugo award, I think Joron’s statement stands today.

Speculative poetry is dangerous because it challenges the SFFH status quo. Of all the potential changes to the SFFH community (yes, even AI), expanding its reach to acknowledge poetry is at the forefront of expanding its historically rigid mindset.

A Hugo for Poetry

I have been part of a group of poets (SPI: The Speculative Poetry Initiative) for the last several years, working to establish a permanent Hugo Award for speculative poetry. For me, the desire to see this happen was about equality. Early in my writing career, I became aware that writers of shorter works—poetry and flash fiction specifically—were often unrecognized. For a long time, if you wrote either, you could not qualify for membership in major SFFH spaces (SFWA: The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association and Codex, the popular and word-of-mouth online space for new writers, are two that come to mind). There was very little major recognition for poetry as a subgenre of SFFH.

Speculative poetry has long been a fixture of SFFH’s major mode of reaching readers—printed and online magazines. Poems by H.P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, Jane Yolen, Charles de Lint, and many more well-established SFFH writers. Poetry was often used as “space filler” in early magazines, but slowly gained a following and is now a part of many award-winning magazines like Uncanny Magazine and Strange Horizons. (A full list of sponsoring magazines is available on the SPI website.)

As Gary Westfahl stated in the Greenwood Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy in 2005: “Few readers complain about these poems, and many readers manifestly appreciate them. It may be, then, that poetry is destined to endure as an occasional and pleasurable respite in an everyday diet of prose; and since science fiction and fantasy may contain more instances of poetry than other fields of literature, these imaginative genres may play an important role in keeping poetry alive.”

At every turn, I found that poetry was not only a part of the SFFH from the beginning, it was the basis for science fiction and fantasy as a genre. Nearly every theme in science fiction has some basis in poetry that predates modern SFFH. Magic and Myth—see world and indigenous religious texts. Astronomy and star-travel—see John Donne’s lament in “An Anatomie of the World”: And freely men confess that this world's spent, / When in the planets and the firmament / They seek so many new; they see that this / Is crumbled out again to his atomies.” Naturalism—see Darwin (yes, he was a poet). Space Opera? I give you Aniara (1953). Sea Serpents? See “The Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor” circa 2500 BCE. Vampires? They go back further than Dracula to the 1748 German poem Der Vampyr.

Not only does a poem exist in nearly every subgenre of genre, but I can also usually find you a poem that predates the prosaic form. This point shocked the SFWA Board when I raised it during a discussion of the new Nebula Award for Poetry.

And as a fiction writer, that fact might needle you. Find an idea—a poet probably wrote it first.

Despite all this, speculative poetry is often dismissed or ignored in the SFFH field. That is, until now. We are arguably in a speculative poetry renaissance. In 2025, we saw the creation of not just one but two new major poetry awards: The Hugo and the Nebula for Best Poem.

Worldwide, since the beginning of the good-old WWW, Google searches for “speculative poetry” have spiked in 2026: (I wouldn’t say this is a great metric, but it is kind of fun to consider.)

As part of my role in advocating for a speculative poetry Hugo, I’ve done quite a bit of research about the history of poetry and the Hugos. (See the crowd-sourced document “Hugos Speculative Poetry Award Report”). I found that speculative poetry panels first appeared at Worldcons in 1978. This isn’t surprising because 1978 was a banner year for speculative poetry. It was the year that the SFPA (Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association) was founded. In the years to come, writers would grapple with a new genre: sometimes called “science fiction poetry,” “fantastical poetry,” “surrealist poetry,” “thought poetry,” or “weird poetry”.

Early discussions about speculative poetry were often concerned with how vastly different poetry was from prose. They saw science fiction as a genre that was entirely technical or “hard”—none of that lyrical softness which is very common in today’s science fiction had yet seeped into the genre.

In the aforementioned article by Andrew Joron, he points out that poetry and fiction are fundamentally different: “…it is very difficult to join the two forms [SF and Poetry] and not have one of them cancel the other one out. One operates by means of a fictional plot, and the other, by means of a musical language and imagery. One cannot be simply reduced to the other.”

Joron also notes that form is often a source of controversy. At the time, he lamented that most speculative poetry followed outdated poetic forms. In short, it rhymed. This “rhyming or nonrhyming” free verse vs. traditional form is an age-old poetic argument in larger poetry circles, too. Of course, today’s speculative poetry has for the most part kept up with the contemporary poetic cycle: some of it rhymes, most of it doesn’t, and readers pick what they like between the two binaries.

What I find interesting about Joron’s essay is the nascent leaps he makes about how speculative poetry can defy the colonization of literature. “Why doesn’t poetry rhyme anymore? and Why does it so often not seem to make any sense? we would have to look back at the concrete historical forces, things like technology and economic structure, that help to condition the way people think and write about the world they live in.”

I’ve written some in the past about how I think poetry in general is often dismissed because it is often written by women, but I want to explain why speculative poetry specifically is so important to recognize for what I see it doing in terms of the social conditioning that Joron predicted.

Testimony and Witness through the Speculative Lens: Why Speculative Poetry Is So Dangerous

Why Speculative Poetry Matters to SFF

Speculative Poetry Should Be a Permanent Hugo Award Category and the Nebula Award Should Recognize Poetry Books: The Importance of Speculative Poetry

The Weird Circular • Holly Lyn Walrath

There is a larger interest in the poetry community in using poetry as a form of decolonization. (Webster: to free a people or area from colonial status;/to free from the dominating influence of a colonizing power.) This movement spans global cultures—from the reclamation of the Latin American “testimonio” form, which testifies to collective experiences of race, gender, sexuality, and class to womanist/black feminist explorations of the privilege of affirmative poetry to South Asian separation of poetic voice and identity as postcolonial.

This new school of decolonizing and postcolonial experimentation—which relies on deconstructing traditional forms—is at the heart of most of today’s popular speculative poetry. Again and again, I see today’s speculative poets deconstructing ideas of race, gender, sexuality, dis/ability, and class. As the editor of Interstellar Flight Press, the intersection of these ideas is central to every speculative poetry book we publish.

Juan Manuel Pérez’s Bury My Heart Under the Martian Sky re-examines the haiku through the lens of Mexican Indigenous language and themes. Listen—a Poetic Creature by Griffin Rockwell reinvents the cento by reclaiming found SFFH texts on gender and monstrosity. Maxwell I. Gold’s anOther Mythology places queerness at the center of new myths in the form of the weird prose poem.

This deconstruction is evident in the poems nominated for the 2026 Hugo. Mari Ness’ “Care for Lightning” flips the gender script on Greek myth (with a bit of body stuff in there too), Elis Montgomery’s “Hex Supply Customer Log” is a found form rhyming poem that reinvisions the witch trope, Brandon O’Brien’s opening ceremonies poem from Seattle Worldcon 2025 “Seattle: Landing” is speculative memoir in poetic form, and Angela Liu’s “The Mourning Robot” deals with robots facing invaders.

I know, it’s not like speculative poets invented this experimental deconstruction. Throw a rock, and you’ll find a speculative fiction story or book that’s doing something similar. But you won’t find as many examples as exist in speculative poetry. There’s something inherently dangerous about the speculative poet’s approach—it both destroys the form the reader is most familiar with and destroys the social pillars that hold up what society deems as norm.

Today, you can read a speculative poem and know nothing about form. But you can also learn about form through this deconstruction. Poetry is always at the past-front and fore-front of groundbreaking. It’s what has come before and what has not yet been discovered. Poetry can simply break the rules in ways fiction can’t.

That’s what makes it so dangerous.

Please Help! We’re Stuck in a Vortex of Ratification!

Let me be clear: The point I’m trying to make here is not to scare you. I want you to want to read speculative poetry. I want you to fall in love with it.

It’s been fascinating watching people react to a poetry Hugo in the last year. The poets have been over the moon. It was heartwarming to meet so many poets at Seattle’s Worldcon, many who said they attended just for poetry. Those who don’t read poetry have fallen all along the spectrum from “I am ashamed to admit I don’t read poetry or know how to read it” to “Umm, I used to write poetry and then I switched to fiction”. Or, a a little more disconcerting: “I read SFFH widely but haven’t discovered speculative poetry yet” (It’s right there! In the same mags you’ve been reading from!)

All reactions please me. Because it means more people are reading speculative poetry and enjoying it in all its variations. We’re in a moment in this world where we need more poetry. When I’m staring down the barrel of dystopia—I write a poem.

So this is where I do my little song and dance and ask: Won’t you please consider voting for a poetry Hugo in 2026? All the info you need is on the Speculative Poetry Initiative website: poetryhugo.com. As of right now, the poetry Hugo Award is up for ratification on July 26. If you’re a Worldcon member, please consider adding your voice to the discussion and voting for a permanent Hugo Award.

And now for a word from my gracious sponsoring overlords:

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A few years back, I was acquaintances with a writer who was describing her editing process (1). To paraphrase, it included multiple rounds of alpha and beta readers, surveys, and interviews. 

And I just remember thinking — that sounds like a nightmare. 

The process worked for her. She liked the constant deluge of suggestions and feedback; she thrived on it. For someone like myself, this would be akin to building a horse by committee. 

You’ve likely heard of pantsers and plotters (2), but I would posit that there is another dual aspect to writing, and that is whether you thrive in writing as a solitary activity, the aforementioned ‘Wizard in a Tower,’ or if you work best when writing is a communal endeavor, like a Bard in a Questing Party (3). 

I’ve had the pleasure of becoming familiar with a fair amount of writers. Since I write both horror and romance; two genres that on the surface are very different, but in execution use similar skills; I’ve met quite an array of folks that generally sit in those two camps (4). They also have certain values they tie to their writing. 

I want to reassure you that these aspects are largely neutral, and are mostly divorced from whether or not a work turns out good. Like all things writing, there is a benefit to being self-aware and learning the process that works best for you. It’s also a good way to look at your tendencies, good and bad, to capitalize on your writing strengths and address weaknesses. 

It should also be noted that whether you are a Wizard or a Bard, the question of why you are writing is ultimately going to help dictate how you approach writing. 

The Wizard in a Tower

Picture a long-bearded, curmudgeonly old soul, dripping in oversized robes, bent over a comically oversized tome, muttering to themselves. If you felt a kindred spirit with that image, you may be the Solitary-Type writer. Wizards want to muddle over their work, and they largely want to do it alone. They see writing as a challenge that demands mastery, study, experimentation, and solitary work. They want to work mostly in isolation to perfect their craft. 

Most Wizards will limit access to their works-in-progress to a few selected alpha and beta readers. That pool is very small and generally consists of trusted family, friends, or other professionals. Every once in a while, a Wizard will latch onto one or two trusted individuals to bounce ideas off of them, a la an animal sidekick type situation, but they prefer to problem-solve mostly on their own or wait for inspiration. 

Importantly, Wizards see writing as an act steeped in personal creativity, whatever their motivation. They need to exercise a sense of control over the work, and that is done best when you aren’t sharing a cauldron or spell book. 

There are ranges of Wizards. Some are solitary writers because they are impatient for feedback and have very fast production schedules. Some are Wizards because they value artistry over marketability (of course, that isn’t to say that artistry and marketability are divorced from one another; it’s just that one may prioritize one over the other). 

Wizard Strengths

Whatever Wizards may lose in marketability, they more than make up for in creativity. Absent a lot of feedback, they often have a habit of experimentation. They aren’t tied to a need to fit certain models or works. They thrive in small critique environments, like one-on-one conversations about their works. Small writing workshops or retreats can also be helpful on occasion. They are self-learners who seek out solo opportunities to improve their craft. 

Wizard Weaknesses

A Wizard’s biggest enemy is their own ego. They can sometimes ignore decent or necessary critique. Another fatal flaw for the Wizard is not curating the right type of alpha/beta readers. If they are only going to maintain a small pool of critique partners or feedback sources, those people need to be aligned with the aims of the project and have some expertise. 

At their worst, a Wizard forgoes all critique and feedback, which leaves the door open for them to really step in it. 

When a Wizard Plays the Bard

When a Wizard attempts Bardic techniques, they may end up in creativity paralysis. A lot of voices aren’t helpful to a Wizard. For them, it’s very much a “too many cooks spoil the pot” situation. The feedback becomes noise and can feel restricting to the Wizard. 

However, if a Wizard wants to make more commercially successful works, it can be a benefit to adopt some Bardic techniques by expanding their alpha/beta reader pool or working with specific professionals, like a developmental editor.  

The Bard in Battle

Alternatively, Bards are most successful when surrounded by a team. The Bardic writer, or communal writer, feels their work is best when it’s a team sport. This type of writer thrives off of feedback and encouragement, and is often willing to cede control of their narratives to others in pursuit of a better outcome. 

They thrive in sharing, supportive, and critiquing environments. They don’t mind a lot of people being part of the process because filtering through various critiques is creatively fulfilling. They find a lot of validation and support from online communities. A lot of fan fiction writers fall into this camp, since fan fic writers are often sharing their works in progress and have created an environment rich in this type of group analysis.

Why Bards? Because they like putting their work out there. They are energized by the audience (readers) and do best as a member of a questing party. These are people who search out writing groups, conferences, and conventions. They may blog profusely or share their WIPs at various points and openly ask for feedback. Even if you aren’t a Bard yourself, if you’re in any sort of reading or writing subculture, you’ve definitely been approached by one to be a beta reader. 

Bardic Strengths

Bards value their readers getting what they want out of a work. They are very good at producing works that adhere to certain genre conventions and have a lot of marketability as a result. Their joy is steeped in reader feedback. This skillset and desire for feedback recursively lends itself to communal writing environments. Depending on their dialogue work and pacing, they have a good temperament for a writer’s room in film and TV. They play well with other Bards and are good for co-writing. 

They also prioritize reader comfort. They can be particular about listing triggers, hyper-specific about genres and tropes. They excel at cataloging and advertising comps for their works. Many are also excellent editors because they are often not only experienced at critiquing, and they are also often able to effectively give feedback. 

Bardic Weaknesses

If a Wizard’s worst issue is ego, then a Bard’s is insecurity. Some Bards have a tendency to let other voices drown out their own. There’s a large overlap between Bards and writers who are people-pleasers, and that doesn’t always benefit a work. 

Conformity isn’t a bad term, even in the arts. But letting a desire to conform or to bend to too much critique can be long-term artistic detriment. Some Bards need to trust their gut and be willing to let their readers face some discomfort. 

When a Bard Casts Like a Wizard

Bards who have not cultivated a skill for asking for feedback may mistake themselves for Wizards. They can be struck by insecurity and stall on projects because of it. They may lean on formulaic writing too much in fear of falling prey to plot holes or have either too much or too little interiority. 

A benefit of Wizard-ness that Bards could learn from is to try spontaneity. To push for unexpected moments in their work and upset the apple cart.

But That’s Just a Theory…A Writing Theory

You might be saying, “I’m a mix of both,” and while that is likely true, there is probably a part of you that leans more heavily to one side than the other. I know that, as a wizard, the sharing aspect of writing is much less enjoyable than the writing itself. For someone like me, writing is the joy, anything else is in pursuit to do more of it. 

Whereas there are a lot of fantastic writers who thrive off the writing community specifically. Their joy is experiencing their work through others. Neither of these options is wrong or worse than the other, but they do have some determination in how you write.

But let me know: are you a Wizard or a Bard? Or some wholly different category altogether? Perhaps a Pencil Paladin? A Meddlesome Monk? Another contrived alliteration?

Notes

(1) This is an amalgamation of a number of writers I know/have known. I’m just not trying to call anyone out who may not have wanted this info out there.

(2) You’ve probably also seen the hybrids, like “plantsers”.

(3) I probably could have made this argument without the contrived DnD references, but I wanted something snappy, and I have so few joys…

(4) There is also a highly gendered aspect to the way those genres are perceived, and that also affects the writing process — but that is a conversation for another essay.

About the Author

Laura Diaz de Arce is a multi-genre author from South Florida. She is the author of the Curse of the Nobleman Series as well as the short story collections MONSTROSITY: Tales of Transformation and In Absence. You can find out more on her website, LauraDiazdeArce.com. 

Hey y’all! Below is a guest post from my fellow Merge Art Studio co-creator, Leslie. It’s all about how to fight creative burnout. If you like Leslie’s post, check out our upcoming events at Merge in Houston:

Merge Art Studio - Events

Event Calendar

www.mergeartstudio.com/events

Fighting Burnout with Fun

I have spent the last ten years of my creative life totally focused on the writing craft. I volunteered with and served on the board of a literary arts nonprofit to immerse myself in the writing and the writing community. After ten years, I found that I was completely used up, burned out, and creatively empty. I was so focused on the organization and its operations that my own work had suffered. Writing became a chore that I was too tired to perform. I started neglecting my own work and my relationships—the work and the people that made me happy outside of the organization. 

In early 2023, my mother became ill, and I was forced to take a break from my public commitments to stay home with her for several months. During this time, I picked up a paintbrush and started playing with watercolors. In the early morning hours of those few months, I found what I was missing: the play. I thrive on experimenting in my creativity, and that is what I had lost. Since I left the non-profit in January of  2025, the experimentation and play have become the wind that keeps my writing flowing and my creative well full. I found, for me, the writing and the visual play work together to create a complete and manageable practice. 

In December of 2025, I partnered with Holly Lyn Walrath, another local writer, poet, and artist, to create Merge Art Studio. Merge is a space where we could hold on to that creative play through creative sessions for all levels of artists. Twice a month, we invite local creatives into the studio to play and experiment with our tools.

I developed my Painting with Unique Objects creative session for those who need a break from producing art for consumption, those who need to play, experiment, and give their creative flow a push. This is a space where you don’t need years of training with a paintbrush. You don’t need to be intimidated by trying to create the right look, use the right stroke, or put just the right pressure on the tip to create that perfect line. In this session, we are going to forget all of that by using objects you might find in your own household. All you need to participate is a willingness to experiment and have fun.

Image Caption: Artwork made with everyday objects. Above, left and right: Paintings made with marbles. Below, left and right: Paintings and collage made with a bean masher and a tiny bottle brush

About the Author

Leslie Archibald writes poetry, flash fiction, and nonfiction in a tiny home office in Houston, Texas. When she is not writing, you may find her roaming the city photographing Houston’s unique character, dabbling in watercolors, and exploring genre bending and multimedia literature. Leslie Archibald’s nonfiction and poetry have appeared in Interstellar Flight Magazine, Synkroniciti magazine, Equinox magazine, anthologies, and was included in Colorstory2023. Her photography and visual art have appeared in Equinox magazine, Synkroniciti magazine, and has shown at Sabine Street, Hardy and Nance, and the Deutser building galleries in Houston, Texas. Leslie is one half of the joint venture Merge Art Studio. Her chapbook Poems for a Broken 𝙼̶𝚊̶𝚛̶𝚛̶𝚒̶𝚊̶𝚐̶𝚎̶ Man from Finishing Line Press is now available at the Finishing Line Press website or your favorite bookstore.

Follow her on Instagram and threads at @Leslie.Archibald, Leslie McCoy Archibald on Facebook, and @lesliearchibald.bsky.social on Bluesky or visit her website at www.lesliearchibaldwriter.com.

​​Merge is the thought-child of artists Holly Lyn Walrath and Leslie Archibald. It's a space to explore the merging of minds and the merging of arts of all kinds. Merge hosts monthly workshops and creative experiences in the heart of Houston, Texas.

Walking with Vincent’s Ghost

My haunted ghouls,

As someone who is chronically ill, it’s rough having to start everything with “I’m sorry for the gap” but, um, mind the gap. In June, I had an unexpected major surgery, so I’m just now catching up again. Thanks for bearing with me.

Anyway, as I’m recovering, one thing I’ve been picking away at is my 70-day creativity challenge inspired by the artist Vincent Van Gogh. I hope to share with you some lessons from Vincent in the coming months. This week, I wrote about Vincent’s famous Starry Night painting. I was struck by how long Vincent thought about his paintings before he made them a reality. It reminds me that the thinking and pre-planning process are just as vital to the actual Making the Art part of creativity.

Lately, I’m also thinking about my creative practice as a larger collective. I’m no longer putting my creations in buckets. here is the bucket for writing, here is the bucket for the speculative stuff, here is the bucket for art . . . Instead, I’m trying to see my creative practice as threads that weave into each other. In the end, they result in a big pretty quilt of all the things that make me . . . well, me. These boundaries, they only hold us back.

In other news, I’ve got big, big writing news, but I can’t quite share it yet. Just know that your resident darksome poet has not given up on writing totally awkward, too-personal poems.

I hope this summer you are able to create without boundaries!

Write what you love, love what you write.

As a reminder, if you love what I do and want to support me, you can now upgrade to this newsletter to get extra-weird perks:

• At least one subscriber-only post per month

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I'm a working narrative artist, and you can catch some of my upcoming in-person workshops happening at my art studio, MERGE, in 2026:

I was delighted to be featured at ContraCommon gallery in Austin in June! Thanks for the <3!

Probably from PANK 💀

Every Weird Circular, I list upcoming opportunities to publish your writing geared toward writers of the weird (sci-fi, fantasy, horror, speculative!) I prioritize PAID opportunities by markets I trust and try to vet as much as I can.

Upcoming Submission Windows:

• Fiyah Magazine of Black Speculative Fiction. Deadline: July 31. Theme: Conjuring Academies & Spellbound Scholars. Short fiction (2k-7k words), Poetry (up to 1k words). Pays .08/word for fiction and $50 for poetry.

• Flash Fiction Online. Deadline: July 31. Theme: Aftermath. Flash (500-1k words).

• Augur Magazine. Deadline July 15. Fiction (up to 5k words), poetry (up to 5 poems). Pays .14 CAD for stories or $100 for poems.

• Apex Magazine. Deadline July 31. Open to Fiction (up to 9k words). Pays .08/word.

• Fusion Fragment. Deadline July 31. Short Fiction (2k-15k). Pays .0-4 CAD/word.

• Trollbreath Magazine. Deadline Oct. 31. Short fiction (4k-5k words). Pays .04/word. Poetry (1 at a time). Pays $25.

Need more submission ideas? Check the Grinder's newest markets, Duotrope's calendar, Submittable’s Discover Feature, Heavy Feather Review’s Where to Submit, SFPA's Speculative Poetry Markets, Horror Tree, Moksha's Open Publications, or The International Writer’s Collective Blog.

I thought it would be fun to do a writing prompt inspired by a few of the books I have edited that were published this year! These are all from my small press, Interstellar Flight Press.

Mountains have deep, dark hearts, and those hearts are carved by water. Deep in the shadowed hollers of Appalachia, Rhia Blackburn has always kept her powers and her heart buried. Around here, the river whispers dark secrets, the earth remembers every cut, and survival is a skill women pass down in blood. But when her cousin Amey is kidnapped up the mountain, Rhia is forced to confront the terror of her home and her own troubled history. To save her, Rhia must trust her powers—and herself—because in Appalachia, family comes first and water always finds a way.

Prompt #1: Hometown Magic

In A River Wide, the main character Rhia has the ability to draw on the magic of the river near where she lives in rural Appalachia. For this prompt, write a story or poem where you take an iconic location from your hometown and make it magical in some way.

For me, this would be the fabled “round rock” of Round Rock Texas. I’ve written about it before and reimagined it as a portal to another world.

Bonus Round: Bonus points if you make the magic itself unique to the location. Rhia’s river isn’t just a river, it’s a stubborn, unpredictable river like Appalachia.

From award-winning Mexican-American and Indigenous Texas poet Juan Manuel Pérez comes a scifaiku collection of haiku crowns—linked haiku sequences—exploring identity, indigeneity, and the fantastic. In another world where Aztec gods walk the stars, mermaloids whisper from ocean trenches, and chupacabras roam starlit deserts, BURY MY HEART UNDER THE MARTIAN SKY reimagines the future through the past. With his signature style, Pérez captures the tension between colonization and cosmic conquest, humor and horror, and myth and memory. 

Prompt #2: A Haiku Crown

Juan Manuel Pérez uses a unique “Haiku Crown” structure in his book that I think expands the form. Instead of just one haiku, write several connecting haikus.

Bonus Round: Bonus points if they are speculative!

When Kristina rises from her violent death, she’s not the same fragile woman her family once abandoned. She’s rageful, powerful, and hungry—for the blood of the ones who were supposed to love her. With a newfound craving to see vengeance and grief served, she launches into a once-in-an-undead-lifetime journey across blood-slicked highways to the scorched Australian bush and her hometown. As her body fails and her mind fractures, she’s left with one final question: Is she here to forgive, or to feed? 

Prompt #3: Flip the Script on a Genre

Emma Obsorne’s GRIEF EATER puts a spin on the zombie genre by making the main character a zombie who can see the memories of the people she eats. For this prompt, take a well-known genre trope and see if you can flip it into something unique. What does the reader expect? How can you surprise them?

Bonus Round: This works best if you use your own unique voice. What makes your writing YOU? See if you can work that into the reversal of expectations.

What I’m Consuming This Month (Literally, it’s in my brain-belly)

📖 Weird Book of the Month: The Passing of the Dragon by Ken Liu

This book isn’t out yet, but since I got to chat with Ken this month at an IFP book launch, I read the title story from the book and it was a delight. It has everything I like: poetry, art, and the struggle to make both. A beautiful story about what it means to be a creator.

“We’re all trying to tell our own story…And we make other people parts of our own stories. We’re meant to bring our stories together, to speak and listen and know that the stories are real and they matter.”

🧵 Craft Article of the Month: Kiki’s Delivery Service author Eiko Kadono is 91, loves pink and never tires of writing

Not really a craft article, but I loved learning about this author of one of my favorite Ghibli films. I’m not entirely sure I agree with her that only books spark the imagination these days. I get so inspired by everything around me—from art to games to movies. But I do agree with this quote in our era of AI:

“People must think on their own to be able to create.”

🎵 Music to Write by: “Softwing” by toast

toast’s ambient sounds mix jazz instruments with soft boy alt guitar and slightly futuristic electronica to make music that sends me into a fugue state. It’s giving Neuromancer meets Brian Eno meets Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Satisfyingly weird and quirky.

This newsletter is entirely run by me, Holly, your corporeal host. I’m just a bundle of anxiety shoved into a sweater and glasses, fueled by caffeine-free-zero-sugar Coke and feminine rage. I really, really love having you around, though. So if you want to keep reading, please consider becoming a subscriber: (please don’t make me join Substack.)

I’m open again for editing in August!

Upcoming Workshops from Your Host with the Most Writing Prompts, Holly Lyn Walrath

30 Stories in 30 Days DATE: 4 Weeks Starting July 1st TIME: Asynchronous via Writing Workshops This generative workshop is chock full of 30 writing prompts for short story writers. Whether you write micro fiction, flash fiction, or short stories, these 30 prompts are meant to inspire and support you in this unique writing challenge. You've heard of NaPoWriMo (National Poetry Writing Month), where poets write 30 poems in 30 days, and you've probably heard of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), where writers try to write a novel in a month. Now, you can do the same with short stories. Whether you're writing to a specific theme, assembling stories for a collection, or want to try writing a series of connected stories, this workshop will explore new contemporary structures like The Tryptich or The Wikipedia Entry. Grow with Van Gogh: A 70-in-70 Challenge for Creatives  DATES: 10 Weeks Starting Tuesday, September 1st, 2026 TIME: Asynchronous via Writing Workshops Secluded in a small village outside of Paris, the famous impressionist artist Vincent van Gogh spent the final 70 days of his life doing what he loved: painting every day. This remarkable period and astonishing burst of creativity inspires this unique workshop. Grow with Van Gogh is a 70-day challenge for writers, artists, and all creatives looking to generate new work and push their boundaries. Sip + Create Goth Night DATE: Saturday, October 10th, 2026 TIME: 4:30PM - 6:30 PM LOCATION: Merge Art Studio, 2000 Nance St. Studio B-126 ​Bust out your black velvet because this is an art night for the goths! To celebrate Halloween and spooky season, join MERGE for a special all-black painting and poetry night. The challenge for this sip and create will be to create artwork that pairs dark poetry with our favorite color: Black (or maybe really really really dark gray). Attendees are welcome to dress up in their spookiest duds. Hosted by your resident emo, Holly Lyn Walrath, "Houston's most darksome poet". Journaling for Writers DATES: Four Weeks Starting December 7th, 2026 TIME: Asynchronous via Writing Workshops Journaling is proven to boost mental health and help focus your thoughts — and for writers, it can be so much more than that. In this creative writing workshop, you'll learn a range of journaling techniques geared specifically toward the writing life, exploring journaling not just as a way to process and track your thoughts, but as a method for improving your craft and building a sustainable career as a writer.

Sip + Create Rock Painting for Summer Gardens (+ Plant Swap!) DATE: Saturday, August 8th, 2026 TIME: 4:30PM - 6:30PM LOCATION: Merge Art Studio, 2000 Nance St. Studio B-126 ​Unwind with a refreshing drink and get creative as you transform ordinary rocks into colorful garden art. In this fun, beginner-friendly workshop, you'll learn simple painting techniques and design ideas to create unique decorations that add personality and charm to your summer garden. No experience needed—all supplies included! Also, participants are encouraged to bring a plant (or clipping) to swap with their fellow gardeners. Sip + Create Van Gogh's Sunflowers DATE: Saturday, September 26th, 2026 TIME: 6:00PM - 8:00PM LOCATION: Merge Art Studio, 2000 Nance St. Studio B-126 ​ In this writing + art workshop, we'll explore one of the most iconic artists of all time: Vincent Van Gogh. Inspired by Van Gogh's famous sunflowers, we'll paint sunny summer sunflowers and incorporate Van Gogh's writing into our creative practice. Van Gogh was not only a talented painter but also a lifelong letter writer. This unique workshop will give you an opportunity to learn about Van Gogh's life and create a piece of art in the spirit of one of the most popular artists in history. Writing the Book-Length Poetry Collection DATES: Four Weeks Starting October 5th, 2026 TIME: Asynchronous via Writing Workshops This online poetry workshop is built for new and emerging poets ready to gather their work into a cohesive manuscript. Open to all levels and all genres of poetry, it's ideal for writers who have poems on the page but feel overwhelmed by the task of shaping them into a chapbook or full-length book. By the end of this online writing class, you'll have the skills to move from a folder of individual poems toward a publishable manuscript — and a clear understanding of how to submit and market your book of poetry. Sip + Create Fifth Ward Art Walk DATE: Saturday, November 14th, 2026 TIME: 4:30PM - 6:30 PM LOCATION: Houston's Historic Fifth Ward (Starting and ending outside Saint Arnold Brewing at 2000 Lyons Ave.) Houston is an art-lovers city! Join us for a guided tour of the art murals of Houston's historic Fifth Ward. This tour starts and ends at Saint Arnold Brewing and explores the nearby artwork, including Saint Arnold's famous art cars, Meow Wolf, and other neighborhood art. Come with your walking shoes ready to learn about the history of Houston and its many talented muralists. Sip + Create Holiday Cards DATE: December 12th, 2026 TIME: 4:30PM LOCATION: Merge Art Studio, 2000 Nance St. Studio B-126 ​Join us for a cozy holiday card-making sesh where you can explore your creative side and make your own poetry-themed holiday cards. In this creative session, we'll use books and texts from the December cultural holidays — Christmas, Bodhi Day, Hanukkah, Diwali, and Kwanzaa—to write poems and create our own holiday cards. Learn about the world's holidays, enjoy a cozy holiday beverage, and meet other creatives.

Self-Paced Workshops (Sign Up Anytime!)

Self-Paced Course: 30 Poems In 30 Days DATE: Ongoing TIME: Asynchronous, Self-paced via Poetry Barn PRICE: $149 This class came out of NaPoWriMo (National Poetry Writing Month), which happens every year in April. Similarly, the goal of this self-paced class is to write 30 poems in 30 days. However, you might write one poem a day, or several poems in a day, and then give yourself a break. It’s totally up to you! Whether you’re writing to a specific theme, assembling a group of poems for a chapbook, or you want to try writing a longer poetic sequence, this workshop is meant to support you with generative prompts and experiences to get you creating plenty of new work. Self-Paced Course: Journaling for Poets DATE: Ongoing TIME: Asynchronous, Self-paced via Poetry Barn PRICE: $99 Poets are observers. One way to keep track of your observations and ideas is through a writing journal. In this workshop, we'll cover the basics of journaling for poets, not just as a method of processing and keeping track of your thoughts, but as a method of improving your writing life and working towards a career as a writer.  In this workshop, you'll cover how to manage large ideas or projects, track submissions, create goals, revising, and more, all while exploring popular methods of journaling to find the one that works for you. If you feel out of sorts or disorganized in your writing life, this workshop is for you!

Self-Paced Course: Queer Poetics DATE: Ongoing ​TIME: Asynchronous, Self-paced via Poetry Barn ​PRICE: $99 This workshop is an intersectional primer on LGBTQIA+ writers throughout the history of poetry. We’ll explore poets like Walt Whitman, Adrienne Rich, Allen Ginsberg, and Audre Lorde, but also the contemporary queer poets who have catapulted into the mainstream like Jericho Brown and Danez Smith. We’ll write poems alongside and inspired by the voices of queer poetics. This class is meant both for writers who want to explore their queerness and for writers who want to learn more about the history of queer poetry. Self-Paced Course: Writing Resistance Through Erasure, Found Text & Visual Poetry DATE: Ongoing TIME: Asynchronous, Self-paced via Poetry Barn PRICE: $99 Hybrid poetry forms can be a powerful form of resistance. From Jerrod Schwarz’s erasure of Trump’s inaugural speech to Niina Pollari’s black outs of the N-400 citizenship form, contemporary poets are engaging with the world through text, creating new and challenging works of art. Heralded by the rise of the “Instapoet,” visual works are a way t

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Y’all know I love an extended art metaphor, 😉 so here’s one more to consider. What if your creative practice is like a garden?

• The more you put into it, the more it grows

• It needs sunshine (energy) and water (sustenance)

• It can feed you (creatively and emotionally)

• The process is sometimes slow but worthwhile

• Something new can always spring up overnight

• You may need to learn some new skills along the way

• It can teach you about the randomness of the world

• It can be a place of solace when things are hard

Your Soothing Hobbies Are Creative Input

The things writers fill their lives with that aren’t writing often influence their writing in surprising ways. Writing is a part of a writer’s larger life. For some, that means it gets done at five in the morning before the kids are awake. For others, writing happens into the wee hours of the night when their family is asleep. And for others, writing is like tending a garden: It happens slowly, bit by bit, growing with them.

I love plants, and I’ve always had some around my house. Right now, my tiny garden is just about 10×15 feet. In it, I’ve got a mix of edible plants and my favorite: succulents that love the Houston humidity and Texas heat. I’ve not always been successful as a gardener. I’ve killed a lot of plants in my day. My most successful plants are my orchids. They only bloom once a year. The rest of that time, they’re dormant, but when they do come alive, they bud out in beautiful colors.

But lately, I’ve been moving more slowly after having surgery this summer. I’m not able to do my normal gardening, but I can still poke at it bit by bit. The same goes for my creative practice of art and writing. The joy is still there, and so are the words. They’re just in a different season.

That’s why my August workshop at my art studio, MERGE, is all about rock painting. Coming back from a medical leave, my brain is slowly waking up again. I wanted something that seemed easy and fun, plus entirely un-writing-related. But the more I think about it, the more I realize I can learn a lot about being creative from my garden.

Sip + Create Rock Painting for Summer Gardens (+ Plant Swap!)
DATE: Saturday, July 11th, 2026
TIME: 4:30PM - 6:30PM
LOCATION: Merge Art Studio, 2000 Nance St. Studio B-126

​Unwind with a refreshing drink and get creative as you transform ordinary rocks into colorful garden art. In this fun, beginner-friendly workshop, you'll learn simple painting techniques and design ideas to create unique decorations that add personality and charm to your summer garden. No experience needed—all supplies included!

Also, participants are encouraged to bring a plant (or clipping) to swap with their fellow gardeners.

What Kind of “Gardener” Are You?

I’m an avid composter. My spouse jokes that my colony of soldier fly larva who live in my compost bin are my “little babies”. I let them process my compost and keep a bucket or two underneath to make compost tea. I mix it with water and spray it over my plants. It’s a messy, stinky process that always satisfies me. I’m a visceral writer too, often writing from personal experience, and my gardening practice reflects my creative style. I like to discover what I create as I go.

I’m a bit of a chaos gardener. I often find seed packets at plant swaps (anything free or zero-waste!) and throw them willy-nilly into my garden bed. I’ve been known to throw seeds into my compost bin, only to find with joy that I’ve got a pumpkin or squash growing alongside a blueberry bush later on. I often choose plants that can fend for themselves. I like the discovery of gardening: what goes well, what fails.

As a creative person, you become familiar with failure. It feels life or death: This Is My Art. But in a garden? Oh well, the seeds didn’t take. The plant died. The grass got a little yellow. You can always start over again.

How long would you keep failing at a hobby before you gave up? Well, I guess that depends on how much you love it. They say: There are no gardening mistakes, only experiments. What if, like a gardener, you could see art “failure” as trial and error instead?

Architect William Kent said that “all gardening is landscape painting.” There’s an art to the garden—both in how landscaping values height and shape and variation, but also in how personal the garden is to the gardener. In one garden, you might find entirely flowers. In another, only food and microgreens. Both have their own value. One feeds the soul and the other feeds the body.

Art is like that—sometimes it exists purely to feed the soul and be beautiful. But at other times, art can be revolutionary. It can exist to change minds. Or, it can be simple and soft—existing just to feed the creator.

To plant a garden is to have hope for the future. For me, there’s a solace in slowing down. In a world that wants constant attention (why do there have to be so many emails?), a garden asks you to be there tomorrow. And art does that, too. Making art says: I believe in myself. Or: one day I’ll show this art to someone. Or, maybe: what I love matters.

In the end, we all want our art-gardens to succeed and thrive. Hope and vision exist in both. We hope the plants will grow. We hope someone will read our book. We can see the garden of our dreams—lush and vibrant. We dream up art that will inspire others.

The only wrong way to start a garden or a creative practice is to never start at all. There’s a Chinese proverb that says the best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago.

So what trees are you going to plant today?

Prompts for Creative Gardeners

Incorporate Art Into Your Garden

If you’re a gardener but you’ve never incorporated art into your garden, this is your chance. Here are some ideas for making your garden more artistic:

• Buy or make a rain drum so you can “listen” to your garden

• Incorporate handmade signage and labels

• Paint rocks with words you love and work them into your garden outlines

• Buy weird art that’s weatherproof and hang it in your garden

Incorporate Nature Into Your Art

If you don’t have your own garden, visit one in your neighborhood or city. Sit quietly with a notebook or sketchbook (or your camera) and simply listen. Journal about what you hear and observe. Take pictures of the plants that you love and make a note of their names or look them up later. Don’t worry about whether you’re doing it right—just take in the experience. Consider it creative input: Doing something peaceful and non-writing related is a comfort to the soul. Consider how you might incorporate your observations about nature into your work. Or just take notes to come back to later.

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A Writer’s Junk is a Writer’s Treasure

Here’s a funny thing about me as a creative. If you know me, you may know that I tend to be fairly organized. I make spreadsheets. I have a budget app I consult regularly. My house is usually fairly clean, and I get quickly annoyed at disorganization. I plan all of my family trips, and my lovely spouse, who has the forethought of an average human man, shows up just happy to be there.

But my creative life? Wooo girl, she’s chaos. My personal office space and desk are in a constant state of “stacks of paper held together by the coffee cup on top”. I save everything I’ve ever written. Sometimes, if I’m feeling on top of it, I donate some of it to the library that holds my writing archive. But don’t ask the librarian in charge, he’ll tell you I tend to throw it at him in a box and say “good luck”.

For a writer, everything is potential inspiration. This is why my desk is such a mess. It’s covered in little objects and bits of paper that are a potential spark. I’m always on the hunt for things that make me feel joy.

I’m a creative magpie, and while it may seem disorganized on the outside, on the inside it slowly gets teased out into finished projects. Eventually. 🙂 

This is the topic of my upcoming in-person workshop happening May 9 at my Houston art studio, MERGE:

Sip + Create Junk Journaling

DATE: Saturday, May 9th, 2026
TIME: 6:00PM - 8:00PM

Junk journaling is the playful, easy art of transforming everyday paper scraps and forgotten ephemera into a meaningful, visual record of your life. In this hands-on workshop, we’ll celebrate imperfection, curiosity, and creativity by giving new purpose to materials that might otherwise be tossed away. Receipts, catalogues, magazines, napkins, seed packets, book pages, postage stamps, junk mail, greeting cards, scraps of lace, packaging, old wallpaper—if it feels like junk to you, it’s exactly what we want to work with.

Participants are encouraged to bring a variety of paper items and small flat objects that reflect their daily lives, interests, or memories. Together, we’ll explore simple collage techniques, layering, and composition, learning how color, texture, and text can work together to tell a story. No artistic experience is necessary—junk journaling is about process, not perfection.

Lately, I’ve been fascinated by the idea of junk journaling. For those that don't know, junk journaling is similar to scrapbooking in that you save bits of paper and "junk" like you might find in a junk drawer. I find it a fun way to interact with the world—whenever I see a handout or bit of paper somewhere I visit, I save it for use in my journal later. Today's gem was a sentence I found in a tourist map describing a building, it said "like a book made of stone, the facade reveals the history" and I thought that line was so fun I may write something with it later. 

I share this because writing inspiration is everywhere. As writers, we have to be magpies collecting the shiny, inspiring pieces of life. Whether it's inspiration from overheard conversations or what other people might view as junk, writers have the role of finding what shines. 

Embracing the Chaos

If you feel concerned about your creative hoard, don’t worry. There have been many writers I’ve encountered in my time as an editor who were worried about their messy process. It’s easy to see why a writer might feel this way. You may find it shameful to admit how many unfinished drafts you have saved. You might feel fear that you will never finish a project. You might think: What do you mean, MOREEEE JUNK, HOLLY??

What if you could let go of that worry?

What if you could embrace your process and stop comparing it to others?

What if you emphasized play in your creative process?

I think junk journaling is a fantastic outlet for letting go of fear and shame. Journaling has been shown to help writers focus their thoughts. Gratitude journaling, in particular, is a way for anyone to feel happier about their lives. Junk journaling combines the idea that ephemeral paper can be a treasure with journaling techniques that are familiar. For writers, junk journaling is a sea of possible ideas.

Let’s look at a few pieces of junk I have saved lately, and how combining them might make an interesting journal page:

• A beer tasting menu: During a recent trip to a local cidery, a friend suggested we save our beer tasting menu for a junk journal. There was one beer we particularly hated: It was footy and dank, with a muddy undertone and a surprisingly mush-like texture. This would be a fun centerpiece in a journal page. As a speculative writer, I could see myself writing a story inspired by different types of beer, each with various fantastical effects when drunk. (I like to think the foot beer would be the secret sauce that opens a portal to another world, if you’re brave enough to drink it.)

• Myriad receipt papers: At the grocery store, they always hand you a receipt, but most people throw it away or let it rot on their car floorboard. Receipts make great background paper that can be colored or painted. There’s something to be said here about the things we buy and the money we spend—in the end, it all just becomes background noise.

• Travel receipts and paper from a trip: I traveled to France last year and took a journal with me. Later, I’m revisiting my trip by adding junk I found along the way so that I can remember how much fun I had and the places I visited. I also ended up making a found poem out of one of the travel brochures for an old French city I visited.

• A Dr. Seuss book: As a writing prompt at a workshop, our workshop leader gave us one. I’m planning to gut the book, use the outside as a journal cover, and later fill it with pages for a journal. The interior pages might make fantastic collage art.

• Business cards: I often get a lot of business cards at book fairs I visit since I’m an editor. I save the ones that seem pertinent to my business, but to be honest, I don’t often look back at them. Instead, I’ve been incorporating them into my journal to remember the book fairs I visited.

An excerpt from the found poem I made out of the brochure for Aubeterre, France

Ephemeral Art and the Junkiest of Junk

Junk journaling isn’t just great for writers, it’s also fun for visual artists. Collage is the first art form that comes to mind. But there’s a more specific term for this kind of art: Ephemeral art. Ephemeral art is any art that has a first life as something else. For example, brochures, propaganda, trash, found objects, etc.

I’m a firm believer that art isn’t a talent, it’s a skill. Anyone can find art and make art. The ancient Greeks called this “techne”. It was a word that referred to a philosophy of making or doing. Greeks saw art as similar to learning to play an instrument or getting good at a sport. Honing the skill just means practice, like any other thing you might want to get good at.

To hone your techne of finding art in the mundane, you need to be a good observer. Creatives are people who look around them and see art where others see something boring. Take the photographer—they have to be able to look at something and find the right angle to take a picture that ends up interesting. That require’s true insight.

One example of how you can find art anywhere is the website SAD (Sculpture a Day). Conceived by Sarah Graham and Bryne McLaughlin, this website takes something ordinary and makes it into a sculpture.

At some point, it's worthwhile to point out that in one way or another, all art is an object. Art becomes object when it is made—when it is made material. Objects are tangible. They can be touched—but art objects are often put behind glass and untouchable. A photographic print can be an object, and the style or method of printing becomes part of the conversation. A sculpture can be an object. A painting. A video on a TV screen or projector. A book. What we view as "art" and "object" depends on our lens.

So why shouldn’t that bit of scrap paper that you’d previously thought was junk become something new?

Writing Prompt: Collect Some Junk, You Trash Panda

Here’s a junk journaling prompt to try at home. Find five pieces of junk—preferably two-dimensional ones. Take that junk and arrange it on a journal page in an artful way. Now write 2-3 lines somewhere on the page. This could be:

• a haiku poem

• the first line of a story

• the title of an essay

See where this takes you: How can you repurpose the junk in your life into something creative?

Upcoming Workshops from Your Host with the Most Writing Prompts, Holly Lyn Walrath

Networking for Creatives DATE: Saturday, April 25th, 2026 TIME: 4:30PM - 6:30 PM LOCATION: Merge Art Studio, 2000 Nance St. Studio B-126 Price: FREE Join artists Leslie Archibald and Holly Lyn Walrath for a guided networking event for creatives of all practices. Whether you're an artist, a writer, a photographer, a content creator, or simply a dreamer, you'll meet other creative individuals who want to expand their network. You never know what collaboration might come from meeting other artists! This event includes free refreshments! Sip + Create: Junk Journaling  DATE: Saturday, May 9th, 2026 ​TIME: 6:00PM - 8:00PM LOCATION: Merge Art Studio, 2000 Nance St. Studio B-126 ​ Junk journaling is the playful, easy art of transforming everyday paper scraps and forgotten ephemera into a meaningful, visual record of your life. In this hands-on workshop, we’ll celebrate imperfection, curiosity, and creativity by giving new purpose to materials that might otherwise be tossed away. Receipts, catalogues, magazines, napkins, seed packets, book pages, postage stamps, junk mail, greeting cards, scraps of lace, packaging, old wallpaper—if it feels like junk to you, it’s exactly what we want to work with. 30 Stories in 30 Days DATE: 4 Weeks Starting July 1st TIME: Asynchronous via Writing Workshops This generative workshop is chock full of 30 writing prompts for short story writers. Whether you write micro fiction, flash fiction, or short stories, these 30 prompts are meant to inspire and support you in this unique writing challenge. You've heard of NaPoWriMo (National Poetry Writing Month), where poets write 30 poems in 30 days, and you've probably heard of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), where writers try to write a novel in a month. Now, you can do the same with short stories. Whether you're writing to a specific theme, assembling stories for a collection, or want to try writing a series of connected stories, this workshop will explore new contemporary structures like The Tryptich or The Wikipedia Entry. Sip + Create Van Gogh's Sunflowers DATE: Saturday, July 11th, 2026 TIME: 6:00PM - 8:00PM LOCATION: Merge Art Studio, 2000 Nance St. Studio B-126 ​ In this writing + art workshop, we'll explore one of the most iconic artists of all time: Vincent Van Gogh. Inspired by Van Gogh's famous sunflowers, we'll paint sunny summer sunflowers and incorporate Van Gogh's writing into our creative practice. Van Gogh was not only a talented painter but also a lifelong letter writer. This unique workshop will give you an opportunity to learn about Van Gogh's life and create a piece of art in the spirit of one of the most popular artists in history.

Queer Poetics DATE: 4 Weeks Starting June 1, 2026 TIME: Asynchronous via Writing Workshops This workshop is an intersectional primer on LGBTQIA+ writers throughout the history of poetry. We’ll explore poets like Walt Whitman, Adrienne Rich, Allen Ginsberg, and Audre Lorde, but also the contemporary queer poets who have catapulted into the mainstream, like Jericho Brown and Danez Smith. We’ll write poems alongside and inspired by the voices of queer poetics. This class is meant both for writers who want to explore their queerness and for writers who want to learn more about the history of queer poetry. Sip + Create Pride Party DATE: Saturday, June 13, 2026 TIME: 6:00PM - 8:00PM LOCATION: Merge Art Studio, 2000 Nance St. Studio B-126 ​ "What I liked about the rainbow is that it fits all of us. It's all the colors. It represents all the genders. It represents all the races. It's the rainbow of humanity" --Gilbert Baker, designer of the Pride flag. Paint the rainbow with this fun art + writing workshop in celebration of Pride Month. In this workshop, we'll write about the queer experience, gender, and identity. Then, we'll pair our writing with a rainbow-colored piece of art. Grow with Van Gogh: A 70-in-70 Challenge for Creatives  DATES: 10 Weeks Starting Tuesday, September 1st, 2026 TIME: Asynchronous via Writing Workshops Secluded in a small village outside of Paris, the famous impressionist artist Vincent van Gogh spent the final 70 days of his life doing what he loved: painting every day. This remarkable period and astonishing burst of creativity inspires this unique workshop. Grow with Van Gogh is a 70-day challenge for writers, artists, and all creatives looking to generate new work and push their boundaries.

Self-Paced Workshops (Sign Up Anytime!)

Self-Paced Course: 30 Poems In 30 Days DATE: Ongoing TIME: Asynchronous, Self-paced via Poetry Barn PRICE: $149 This class came out of NaPoWriMo (National Poetry Writing Month), which happens every year in April. Similarly, the goal of this self-paced class is to write 30 poems in 30 days. However, you might write one poem a day, or several poems in a day, and then give yourself a break. It’s totally up to you! Whether you’re writing to a specific theme, assembling a group of poems for a chapbook, or you want to try writing a longer poetic sequence, this workshop is meant to support you with generative prompts and experiences to get you creating plenty of new work. Self-Paced Course: Journaling for Poets DATE: Ongoing TIME: Asynchronous, Self-paced via Poetry Barn PRICE: $99 Poets are observers. One way to keep track of your observations and ideas is through a writing journal. In this workshop, we'll cover the basics of journaling for poets, not just as a method of processing and keeping track of your thoughts, but as a method of improving your writing life and working towards a career as a writer.  In this workshop, you'll cover how to manage large ideas or projects, track submissions, create goals, revising, and more, all while exploring popular methods of journaling to find the one that works for you. If you feel out of sorts or disorganized in your writing life, this workshop is for you!

Self-Paced Course: Queer Poetics DATE: Ongoing ​TIME: Asynchronous, Self-paced via Poetry Barn ​PRICE: $99 This workshop is an intersectional primer on LGBTQIA+ writers throughout the history of poetry. We’ll explore poets like Walt Whitman, Adrienne Rich, Allen Ginsberg, and Audre Lorde, but also the contemporary queer poets who have catapulted into the mainstream like Jericho Brown and Danez Smith. We’ll write poems alongside and inspired by the voices of queer poetics. This class is meant both for writers who want to explore their queerness and for writers who want to learn more about the history of queer poetry. Self-Paced Course: Writing Resistance Through Erasure, Found Text & Visual Poetry DATE: Ongoing TIME: Asynchronous, Self-paced via Poetry Barn PRICE: $99 Hybrid poetry forms can be a powerful form of resistance. From Jerrod Schwarz’s erasure of Trump’s inaugural speech to Niina Pollari’s black outs of the N-400 citizenship form, contemporary poets are engaging with the world through text, creating new and challenging works of art. Heralded by the rise of the “Instapoet,” visual works are a way to take poetry one step further by crafting new forms and structures that often transcend the page.

A Year Full of Creativity

Dearest clever girls,

This year, I’ve decided to fill my life with creative endeavors. I don’t know about you, but I want to live life to its fullest. For me, the moments when I feel most alive and in awe of what I can do as a human are when I get to be creative. That’s why this year, I’m cultivating a more dedicated art practice.

What does that look like? Well, in January, I launched my art studio, Merge, with fellow artist Leslie Archibald. Throughout the year, I’ll be teaching a series of in-person workshops that aren't just meant to help pay the rent; they’re actually art forms I love or feel curious about. For me, teaching creatives is one way I find inspiration. It’s a truly exciting feeling to see people respond to my prompts and to guide writers through their experience, validating that writing is hard and that being creative can be even harder in today’s world.

It’s a strange feeling having my own art studio. Every time I walk into that space, I feel safe and at home. While most of the month it sits dormant, when a workshop happens, the strangeness suddenly slips away, and I realize: This little weird space I’ve carved out is right where I belong.

Near the end of the year, I’ll be walking with van Gogh to create my newest, hardest writing challenge yet: The Grow with Van Gogh challenge. This takes the form of a 70-day workshop. You can imagine that creating 70 days worth of content is a big challenge, but it will be worth it to get to gift that challenge to artists who want to grow their creative practice.

One thing I’m not giving up on is exploring what I love. When it comes down to it, the more I focus on the things that matter to me—Family, my pets, my own health and mental focus, and my creative practice—the happier I feel.

What would make you happy this year? Where can you find space to refocus and dedicate yourself to what you love? I hope you take time to keep things weird.

Write what you love, love what you write.

As a reminder, if you love what I do and want to support me, you can now upgrade to this newsletter to get extra-weird perks:

• At least one subscriber-only post per month

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• A 20% discount on any of my editing services

I'm a working narrative artist, and you can catch some of my upcoming in-person workshops happening at my art studio, MERGE, in 2026:

Probably from PANK 💀

Every Weird Circular, I list upcoming opportunities to publish your writing geared toward writers of the weird (sci-fi, fantasy, horror, speculative!) I prioritize PAID opportunities by markets I trust and try to vet as much as I can.

Upcoming Submission Windows:

• Barrelhouse, deadline 3/15: Theme: The Aftermath (stories focused on the moments after a climactic event). Short stories up to 5k, 3-5 poems. Art. Pays $50.

• Flash Fiction online, deadline 3/31, theme: Tiny Gods. Flash Fiction up to 1k. Pays $100.

• Hearth Stories, deadline 3/31. Cozy pre-industrial-revolution (vegan) stories up to 10k. Pays $.01/word.

• Last Girls Club, deadline 4/15: Theme: Live and Die by Your Words. Short Fiction up to 2.5k. Poems less than 200 words. Flash fiction less than 1k. Nonfiction 1.5-2.5k. Pay varies.

• Utopia Science Fiction, rolling theme deadlines. Current theme: cozy optimistic stories set in utopias. Short stories 100-4k words. Up to 5 short poems or one long poem (see guidelines). Nonfiction up to 6k. Pay varies.

Need more submission ideas? Check the Grinder's newest markets, Duotrope's calendar, Submittable’s Discover Feature, Heavy Feather Review’s Where to Submit, SFPA's Speculative Poetry Markets, Horror Tree, Moksha's Open Publications, or The International Writer’s Collective Blog.

Baule Mask by Norman Lewis, 1935

Prompt #1: Ekphrastic Classic Art

In March, I’m teaching an ekphrastic writing workshop. Here's one prompt from the class! Visit the website https://www.wikiart.org/ This website updates daily with random classical artwork. Pick the first work that interests you and write about it:

• What do you see? Colors, lines, shapes, figures, etc?

• Does this artwork have a voice? What would it say?

• Do you know the artist? Google the artist and pick one interesting fact about them to use in your piece.

Bonus Round: Meta Art Writing

Try “meta” art writing: Write a piece inspired by the artwork that doesn’t reference it in any way but creates an entirely new and original work.

Prompt #2: The Life of Objects

Pick a random object from your home. It could be something with a lot of sentimental value, or something entirely mundane. Start by describing the object. What is its color, shape, texture, and use? Then, personify the object. Give it a voice. Let it talk to you or the reader. Give the object an internal inner world.

Bonus Round: Insert YOU

Now put yourself in the piece. What does the object mean to you? Why do you care about it? What metaphor does it have for your life?

Prompt #3: Self-Portrait

The artist makes a self portrait of themselves with a mirror. Do the same with your writing. Sit in front of a mirror and describe your face as you see it. Try to include as much detail as possible.

Bonus Round: Love Thyself

Now write a love letter to that person you see in the mirror.

What I’m Consuming This Month (Literally, it’s in my brain-belly)

📖 Weird Book of the Month: The Ekphrastic Writer

Okay, this is kind of cheating, but I have to admit the only thing I’ve been reading this month is writing workshop related. That being said, a huge reference for my upcoming March workshop is this book. It is FULL of prompts for ekphrasis, with a new prompt on nearly every page. I can’t recommend it enough!

🧵 Craft Article of the Month: Writing as Witchcraft by Theodora Goss

Goss does a wonderful job of tracing the ways in which words have power through different examples in literature. I would add that one way to think about your writing as magic is to consider the well of imagination from which your words are conjured. How can you fill that well up? Magic is often framed as a finite resource. If your words are magic, how can you make sure you keep them alive so they can keep conjuring stories for you?

🎵 Music to Write by: Sofie Birch and Antonina Nowacka - Hiraeth

I absolutely adore this super-strange and atmospheric piece. It reminds me of being trapped on some Greek island with sirens. Very big fantasy vibes.

This newsletter is entirely run by me, Holly, your corporeal host. I’m just a bundle of anxiety shoved into a sweater and glasses, fueled by caffeine-free-zero-sugar Coke and feminine rage. I really, really love having you around, though. So if you want to keep reading, please consider becoming a subscriber: (please don’t make me join Substack.)

Upcoming Workshops from Your Host with the Most Writing Prompts, Holly Lyn Walrath

The Art of Ekphrasis: Writing with Visual Art DATE: 4 Zoom Meetings: March 8th, 15th, 22nd, and 29th, 10am-12pm CST, with asynchronous content via Writing Workshops ​ Ekphrasis is the art of writing in response to art. This generative workshop invites writers of all genres to explore the intersection of art and words. Through four guided observation sessions (taking place via Zoom), students will learn to pay attention to detail, describe what they see in vivid and unique ways, and grow their writing practice through art. Writers are observers at heart, and this class provides hands-on exercises to boost observation skills and break out of creative blocks. Fill up your well of inspiration through art. Networking for Creatives DATE: Saturday, April 25th, 2026 TIME: 4:30PM - 6:30 PM LOCATION: Merge Art Studio, 2000 Nance St. Studio B-126 Price: FREE Join artists Leslie Archibald and Holly Lyn Walrath for a guided networking event for creatives of all practices. Whether you're an artist, a writer, a photographer, a content creator, or simply a dreamer, you'll meet other creative individuals who want to expand their network. You never know what collaboration might come from meeting other artists! This event includes free refreshments! Sip + Create: Junk Journaling  DATE: Saturday, May 9th, 2026 ​TIME: 6:00PM - 8:00PM LOCATION: Merge Art Studio, 2000 Nance St. Studio B-126 ​ Junk journaling is the playful, easy art of transforming everyday paper scraps and forgotten ephemera into a meaningful, visual record of your life. In this hands-on workshop, we’ll celebrate imperfection, curiosity, and creativity by giving new purpose to materials that might otherwise be tossed away. Receipts, catalogues, magazines, napkins, seed packets, book pages, postage stamps, junk mail, greeting cards, scraps of lace, packaging, old wallpaper—if it feels like junk to you, it’s exactly what we want to work with. 30 Stories in 30 Days DATE: 4 Weeks Starting July 1st TIME: Asynchronous via Writing Workshops This generative workshop is chock full of 30 writing prompts for short story writers. Whether you write micro fiction, flash fiction, or short stories, these 30 prompts are meant to inspire and support you in this unique writing challenge. You've heard of NaPoWriMo (National Poetry Writing Month), where poets write 30 poems in 30 days, and you've probably heard of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), where writers try to write a novel in a month. Now, you can do the same with short stories. Whether you're writing to a specific theme, assembling stories for a collection, or want to try writing a series of connected stories, this workshop will explore new contemporary structures like The Tryptich or The Wikipedia Entry. Sip + Create Van Gogh's Sunflowers DATE: Saturday, July 11th, 2026 TIME: 6:00PM - 8:00PM LOCATION: Merge Art Studio, 2000 Nance St. Studio B-126 ​ In this writing + art workshop, we'll explore one of the most iconic artists of all time: Vincent Van Gogh. Inspired by Van Gogh's famous sunflowers, we'll paint sunny summer sunflowers and incorporate Van Gogh's writing into our creative practice. Van Gogh was not only a talented painter but also a lifelong letter writer. This unique workshop will give you an opportunity to learn about Van Gogh's life and create a piece of art in the spirit of one of the most popular artists in history.

Revisioning Your Poems  DATE: 4 Weeks Starting April 6th, 2026 TIME: Asynchronous via Writing Workshops ​ Do you struggle to know when a poem is “done”? Do you have a ton of poems, but you’re not sure if they’re ready for publication? Do you need help learning how to edit your own work better? Join us for a nitty-gritty dive into the different methods of revising poetry. Learn how to self-edit for voice, form, structure, tone, and meter to re-envision your poems. Give life to your old drafts and prepare them for submission with help from a professional editor. Sip + Create: National Poetry Month Blackout Poetry DATE: Saturday, April 11th, 2026 ​ TIME: 7:00PM - 9:00PM LOCATION: Merge Art Studio, 2000 Nance St. Studio B-126 In celebration of National Poetry Month, learn how to create your own blackout poetry. Play with words and art by erasing words on the page to form a poem. Explore the history of blackout poetry and learn how it defies genre, questions texts and sources, and provides ample play room for writers looking for inspiration. Queer Poetics DATE: 4 Weeks Starting June 1, 2026 TIME: Asynchronous via Writing Workshops This workshop is an intersectional primer on LGBTQIA+ writers throughout the history of poetry. We’ll explore poets like Walt Whitman, Adrienne Rich, Allen Ginsberg, and Audre Lorde, but also the contemporary queer poets who have catapulted into the mainstream, like Jericho Brown and Danez Smith. We’ll write poems alongside and inspired by the voices of queer poetics. This class is meant both for writers who want to explore their queerness and for writers who want to learn more about the history of queer poetry. Sip + Create Pride Party DATE: Saturday, June 13, 2026 TIME: 6:00PM - 8:00PM LOCATION: Merge Art Studio, 2000 Nance St. Studio B-126 ​ "What I liked about the rainbow is that it fits all of us. It's all the colors. It represents all the genders. It represents all the races. It's the rainbow of humanity" --Gilbert Baker, designer of the Pride flag. Paint the rainbow with this fun art + writing workshop in celebration of Pride Month. In this workshop, we'll write about the queer experience, gender, and identity. Then, we'll pair our writing with a rainbow-colored piece of art. Grow with Van Gogh: A 70-in-70 Challenge for Creatives  DATES: 10 Weeks Starting Tuesday, September 1st, 2026 TIME: Asynchronous via Writing Workshops Secluded in a small village outside of Paris, the famous impressionist artist Vincent van Gogh spent the final 70 days of his life doing what he loved: painting every day. This remarkable period and astonishing burst of creativity inspires this unique workshop. Grow with Van Gogh is a 70-day challenge for writers, artists, and all creatives looking to generate new work and push their boundaries.

Self-Paced Workshops (Sign Up Anytime!)

Self-Paced Course: 30 Poems In 30 Days DATE: Ongoing TIME: Asynchronous, Self-paced via Poetry Barn PRICE: $149 This class came out of NaPoWriMo (National Poetry Writing Month), which happens every year in April. Similarly, the goal of this self-paced class is to write 30 poems in 30 days. However, you might write one poem a day, or several poems in a day, and then give yourself a break. It’s totally up to you! Whether you’re writing to a specific theme, assembling a group of poems for a chapbook, or you want to try writing a longer poetic sequence, this workshop is meant to support you with generative prompts and experiences to get you creating plenty of new work. Self-Paced Course: Journaling for Poets DATE: Ongoing TIME: Asynchronous, Self-paced via Poetry Barn PRICE: $99 Poets are observers. One way to keep track of your observations and ideas is through a writing journal. In this workshop, we'll cover the basics of journaling for poets, not just as a method of processing and keeping track of your thoughts, but as a method of improving your writing life and working towards a career as a writer.  In this workshop, you'll cover how to manage large ideas or projects, track submissions, create goals, revising, and more, all while exploring popular methods of journaling to find the one that works for you. If you feel out of sorts or disorganized in your writing life, this workshop is for you!

Self-Paced Course: Queer Poetics DATE: Ongoing ​TIME: Asynchronous, Self-paced via Poetry Barn ​PRICE: $99 This workshop is an intersectional primer on LGBTQIA+ writers throughout the history of poetry. We’ll explore poets like Walt Whitman, Adrienne Rich, Allen Ginsberg, and Audre Lorde, but also the contemporary queer poets who have catapulted into the mainstream like Jericho Brown and Danez Smith. We’ll write poems alongside and inspired by the voices of queer poetics. This class is meant both for writers who want to explore their queerness and for writers who want to learn more about the history of queer poetry. Self-Paced Course: Writing Resistance Through Erasure, Found Text & Visual Poetry DATE: Ongoing TIME: Asynchronous, Self-paced via Poetry Barn PRICE: $99 Hybrid poetry forms can be a powerful form of resistance. From Jerrod Schwarz’s erasure of Trump’s inaugural speech to Niina Pollari’s black outs of the N-400 citizenship form, contemporary poets are engaging with the world through text, creating new and challenging works of art. Heralded by the rise of the “Instapoet,” visual works are a way to take poetry one step further by crafting new forms and structures that often transcend the page.

Wow, you made it all the way down here. Have a sarcastic, not at all serious comic on art. (Seriously, don’t get mad at me if you laugh. Or cry...)

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Welcome back to my series on practical ways to finish your book using the power of psychology. Each post in this ten-part series presents a different method you can try to finally just GET IT DONE and WRITE THE FRIGGIN BOOK. If you haven’t read the other articles in this series, you can check them out below:

• Part One: JUST DO IT

• Part Two: If-Then Planning

• Part Three: Trick Yourself

• Part Four: Gamify: Make Writing Fun

• Part Five: Manifesting Your Goals

• Part Six: Make a 6-Point To-Do List

When I first started running, I came up with an unhinged plan to run every day. I was going to run two miles a day for a month so that I could work up to a 5k. Of course, this quickly crumbled when I realized how frigging hard running is (for me, anyway). I didn’t give up, I kept running, I just scaled that goal back to one day a week. I started interspersing my runs with other exercises: Yoga, weightlifting, and workout classes at my gym.

I quickly realized that everything feeds into everything else. By doing different types of exercises, I was better able to run because I was more flexible and stronger.

All of this being said, I’m someone who has a chronic illness. I have lymphedema, hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos (EDS), recurring infections, and severe allergies, including idiopathic hives. So running every day was simply unrealistic given my body. Because I’m chronically ill, I often need breaks. There are whole weeks when I can’t exercise. At first, I would get really frustrated by these breaks. I still do, to be honest. But I’ve realized I can’t push my body beyond pain—that just results in more pain. The truth is, we all need breaks as humans.

And as a writer, you need breaks, too. And here’s a stunner of a surprise: Breaks actually help you write better.

In psychology, the Zeigarnik effect is the idea that an interrupted task is actually more readily recalled. The idea is that “multitasking” or doing one task, taking a break to do something else, then coming back to the task, can actually help you focus better.

Zeigarnik was a psychologist who came up with the idea after a study where they asked a waiter to remember orders. They were surprised to find that the waiter could remember unpaid, pending orders, but they couldn’t remember finished orders. Waiters juggle multiple orders with ease, getting constantly interrupted, but they can still remember who hasn’t paid yet.

The idea is that as humans, our brains don’t remember the things we’ve accomplished. We only remember that which we need to complete: Our to-do list. We don’t celebrate the successes.

This is kind of devastating because psychologically, it means that negative thoughts and self-doubt have priority in our brains. It’s a lot easier to think: I didn’t make my goal this week, so I suck. I didn’t get to run (even though it wasn’t my fault because I was sick), so I’m bad at running.

Let’s apply this to writing. There are two takeaways from the Zeigarnik effect. The first is that interruptions are actually beneficial to a goal. If you struggle to focus while completing a long writing session, it might actually help to juxtapose that writing with something else.

I personally use this concept to juggle multiple writing projects. I find that if I’m bored with one writing project, starting a new one can actually help me finish the first because it gives my brain something different to work on. Sure, I might have a lot of unfinished projects. But why is that inherently bad? Successful bestselling authors usually have more than one project going on. They might be writing a draft while revising another and completing proofreading on still another, while marketing the book they wrote five years ago that is now being published.

In fact, I’m doing this right now, as I write this post. I have this window up while I switch back to workshop critiques for a class I’m teaching.

This juggling can be really overwhelming for a new writer. It’s a “leveled up” writing skill that takes time to get good at. Juggling many projects at once requires you to switch gears quickly, perhaps moving from one storyline to another or even one genre to another. And like all writing advice, it doesn’t work for everyone. If you’re the kind of person who struggles with distractions, you might do better to narrow your focus. You might try just allowing yourself to take a break entirely from a project.

As an editor, I often see writers struggling with this. They toil over one project forever, never working on anything else, never writing the next thing, and in the end, that one project becomes gobbledy-gook. My role then is to help them see the work with some distance.

Taking breaks has benefits for revision. Coming back to a project after, say, a few weeks, can let you see it with more objective eyes.

The second takeaway from the Zeigarnik effect is about to-do lists. (What do you mean, Holly, you’re going to talk about to-do lists AGAIN??!) The reason I harp so much on to-do lists for writers is that they work. Constantly re-evaluating your goals helps you shape your task list for a project. It’s important to stay present in your writing life. By acknowledging what you have left to do, your brain will start to think about ways to accomplish that goal.

Awareness is so vital to a writer’s goals. It’s not just about building an awareness of your style and process: but about being aware of your pitfalls, too.

Most new writers lack awareness of not just their writing but also their process. They write a story, but don’t know why a character acted a certain way. “My characters just do what they want!” And while it’s normal for your imagination to surprise you, in the end, you’re in charge. You’re the writer, here. New writers don’t know why they chose a setting or a plot element. But for readers, everything has to feel cohesive and tied together, otherwise the reader is thinking: WHAT the heck is going on in this book? You want the reader to feel impressed by the book, not confused. As writers, we need to be aware of the choices we make.

The Five Minute Brain Break is a method developed by researchers at the University of Sydney to refocus attention. If you find yourself distracted, you might try this simple technique. Take five minutes and do nothing. Set a timer (you might even work this into your regular routine by setting a Pomodoro timer to take a break after 25 minutes of work). During that time, go somewhere other than your computer. Sit quietly and relax your mind. If you need help, try simply thinking “I am breathing” or “I am taking a break”.

It’s okay to spend your break thinking about your project. In fact, that is the point of the break. One study found that during such breaks, the brain wasn’t idle. It was actually churning through the task at a super-high speed of over two dozen times in ten seconds. That’s astonishing to think about. So even if you’re trying to hold, say, a novel in your mind—which is a really big project, your brain is capable of that!

Taking a break is a big part of my creative process. In fact, I use it for all my poetry writing. I write a poem, stick it in a folder, and then return to it the next year to revise. That’s right: I give my poems whole years before I revise them. Why? Because in a year, I’ve changed, and the poem has changed. It’s shocking how some of my poems feel illegible after a year, while others surprise me with how good they are. This helps me look at the poems through a new lens.

I take more breaks now with my exercise, too. I’ve realized the mind and the body are similar: They need time to refuel, refresh, and grow.

Try this journaling exercise: Make a list of everything you have done so far on your project. What have you achieved? Spend some time allowing yourself to celebrate your successes. Now consider: Do I need a break? Are there other projects I can work on that might feed into this one? How can I “level up” to be able to work on more than one project at once? (This might include working revision into your normal drafting routine or finding a critique group to balance drafting with receiving feedback.) Do I need to work more routine breaks into my writing sessions?

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Upcoming Workshops from Your Host with the Most Writing Prompts, Holly Lyn Walrath

Sip + Create: Writing the Love Poem DATE: Saturday, February 14th TIME: 6:00PM - 8:00PM LOCATION: Merge Art Studio, 2000 Nance St. Studio B-126 ​Show the one you love how much you care with the most personal gift possible: A custom Valentine featuring a love poem in your own words. Whether you're celebrating a partner, friend, or your own beautiful self, this event will help you find the words to tell someone how much you care. Featuring a make-your-own Valentine art experience and Valentine-themed drinks. Couples welcome! The Art of Ekphrasis: Writing with Visual Art DATE: 4 Zoom Meetings: March 8th, 15th, 22nd, and 29th, 10am-12pm CST, with asynchronous content via Writing Workshops ​ Ekphrasis is the art of writing in response to art. This generative workshop invites writers of all genres to explore the intersection of art and words. Through four guided observation sessions (taking place via Zoom), students will learn to pay attention to detail, describe what they see in vivid and unique ways, and grow their writing practice through art. Writers are observers at heart, and this class provides hands-on exercises to boost observation skills and break out of creative blocks. Fill up your well of inspiration through art. Sip + Create: Junk Journaling  DATE: Saturday, May 9th, 2026 ​TIME: 6:00PM - 8:00PM LOCATION: Merge Art Studio, 2000 Nance St. Studio B-126 ​ Junk journaling is the playful, easy art of transforming everyday paper scraps and forgotten ephemera into a meaningful, visual record of your life. In this hands-on workshop, we’ll celebrate imperfection, curiosity, and creativity by giving new purpose to materials that might otherwise be tossed away. Receipts, catalogues, magazines, napkins, seed packets, book pages, postage stamps, junk mail, greeting cards, scraps of lace, packaging, old wallpaper—if it feels like junk to you, it’s exactly what we want to work with. 30 Stories in 30 Days DATE: 4 Weeks Starting July 1st TIME: Asynchronous via Writing Workshops This generative workshop is chock full of 30 writing prompts for short story writers. Whether you write micro fiction, flash fiction, or short stories, these 30 prompts are meant to inspire and support you in this unique writing challenge. You've heard of NaPoWriMo (National Poetry Writing Month), where poets write 30 poems in 30 days, and you've probably heard of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), where writers try to write a novel in a month. Now, you can do the same with short stories. Whether you're writing to a specific theme, assembling stories for a collection, or want to try writing a series of connected stories, this workshop will explore new contemporary structures like The Tryptich or The Wikipedia Entry.

30 Genres in 30 Days DATE: 4 Weeks Starting January 1, 2026 TIME: Asynchronous via Writing Workshops Get ready to discover the magic of different genres in this fun and interactive 30-day workshop tailored for short story writers. Whether you’re into mystery, romance, horror, or science fiction, this workshop will help you grasp the unique elements and essentials of each genre. Revisioning Your Poems  DATE: 4 Weeks Starting April 6th, 2026 TIME: Asynchronous via Writing Workshops ​ Do you struggle to know when a poem is “done”? Do you have a ton of poems, but you’re not sure if they’re ready for publication? Do you need help learning how to edit your own work better? Join us for a nitty-gritty dive into the different methods of revising poetry. Learn how to self-edit for voice, form, structure, tone, and meter to re-envision your poems. Give life to your old drafts and prepare them for submission with help from a professional editor. Sip + Create: National Poetry Month Blackout Poetry DATE: Saturday, April 11th, 2026 ​ TIME: 7:00PM - 9:00PM LOCATION: Merge Art Studio, 2000 Nance St. Studio B-126 In celebration of National Poetry Month, learn how to create your own blackout poetry. Play with words and art by erasing words on the page to form a poem. Explore the history of blackout poetry and learn how it defies genre, questions texts and sources, and provides ample play room for writers looking for inspiration. Queer Poetics DATE: 4 Weeks Starting June 1, 2026 TIME: Asynchronous via Writing Workshops This workshop is an intersectional primer on LGBTQIA+ writers throughout the history of poetry. We’ll explore poets like Walt Whitman, Adrienne Rich, Allen Ginsberg, and Audre Lorde, but also the contemporary queer poets who have catapulted into the mainstream, like Jericho Brown and Danez Smith. We’ll write poems alongside and inspired by the voices of queer poetics. This class is meant both for writers who want to explore their queerness and for writers who want to learn more about the history of queer poetry. Grow with Van Gogh: A 70-in-70 Challenge for Creatives  DATES: 10 Weeks Starting Tuesday, September 1st, 2026 TIME: Asynchronous via Writing Workshops Secluded in a small village outside of Paris, the famous impressionist artist Vincent van Gogh spent the final 70 days of his life doing what he loved: painting every day. This remarkable period and astonishing burst of creativity inspires this unique workshop. Grow with Van Gogh is a 70-day challenge for writers, artists, and all creatives looking to generate new work and push their boundaries.

Self-Paced Workshops (Sign Up Anytime!)

Self-Paced Course: 30 Poems In 30 Days DATE: Ongoing TIME: Asynchronous, Self-paced via Poetry Barn PRICE: $149 This class came out of NaPoWriMo (National Poetry Writing Month), which happens every year in April. Similarly, the goal of this self-paced class is to write 30 poems in 30 days. However, you might write one poem a day, or several poems in a day, and then give yourself a break. It’s totally up to you! Whether you’re writing to a specific theme, assembling a group of poems for a chapbook, or you want to try writing a longer poetic sequence, this workshop is meant to support you with generative prompts and experiences to get you creating plenty of new work. Self-Paced Course: Journaling for Poets DATE: Ongoing TIME: Asynchronous, Self-paced via Poetry Barn PRICE: $99 Poets are observers. One way to keep track of your observations and ideas is through a writing journal. In this workshop, we'll cover the basics of journaling for poets, not just as a method of processing and keeping track of your thoughts, but as a method of improving your writing life and working towards a career as a writer.  In this workshop, you'll cover how to manage large ideas or projects, track submissions, create goals, revising, and more, all while exploring popular methods of journaling to find the one that works for you. If you feel out of sorts or disorganized in your writing life, this workshop is for you!

Self-Paced Course: Queer Poetics DATE: Ongoing ​TIME: Asynchronous, Self-paced via Poetry Barn ​PRICE: $99 This workshop is an intersectional primer on LGBTQIA+ writers throughout the history of poetry. We’ll explore poets like Walt Whitman, Adrienne Rich, Allen Ginsberg, and Audre Lorde, but also the contemporary queer poets who have catapulted into the mainstream like Jericho Brown and Danez Smith. We’ll write poems alongside and inspired by the voices of queer poetics. This class is meant both for writers who want to explore their queerness and for writers who want to learn more about the history of queer poetry. Self-Paced Course: Writing Resistance Through Erasure, Found Text & Visual Poetry DATE: Ongoing TIME: Asynchronous, Self-paced via Poetry Barn PRICE: $99 Hybrid poetry forms can be a powerful form of resistance. From Jerrod Schwarz’s erasure of Trump’s inaugural speech to Niina Pollari’s black outs of the N-400 citizenship form, contemporary poets are engaging with the world through text, creating new and challenging works of art. Heralded by the rise of the “Instapoet,” visual works are a way to take poetry one step further by crafting new forms and structures that often transcend the page.

For millennia, the love poem has been the most popular form of poetry in existence. It predates most other forms of literature, as far back as the Song of Songs, Rumi, and Shakespeare. As soon as people figured out how to put pen to paper (or chisel to stone), they started writing about love.

According to the Guinness Book of World Records (and you know, scholars), the oldest love poem is often believed to be “The Love Song for Shu-Sin” (c. 2000 BCE). This over four-thousand-year-old Sumerian stone tablet records what is both ancient rite and love song—a recording of a ritual where the King (Shu-Sin) would make sweet sweet music with a priestess of Inanna, the Sumerian Goddess of love.

A lot of people have tried their hand at writing love poems, and most poets start out by writing the love poem. Yet the idea that love poems are in some way cringeworthy is a prevailing concept that prevents writers from trying this age-old form. After all, how do you say anything new on the age-old topic of love? And how do you write a love poem for someone you care about that isn’t cliche?

Here’s the truth from a part-time poet: The secret is in knowing the object of your desire.

That is the topic of my upcoming workshop in-person at Merge Art Studio in Houston, Texas.

Sip + Create: Writing the Love Poem
DATE: Saturday, February 14th
TIME: 6:00PM - 8:00PM
LOCATION: Merge Art Studio, 2000 Nance St. Studio B-126
A themed art night for creatives.
​Show the one you love how much you care with the most personal gift possible: A custom Valentine featuring a love poem in your own words. Whether you're celebrating a partner, friend, or your own beautiful self, this event will help you find the words to tell someone how much you care. Featuring a make-your-own Valentine art experience and Valentine-themed drinks. Couples welcome!

Why should you try writing a love poem in this day and age? Well, beyond the fact that it’s fun to write about things you love (and you should always write what you love), the truth is that we live in a world of diminishing authenticity. If you’re worried you might not be able to write an original poem, let me clue you into a little secret: Originality is not perfection.

I have a theory I’ve explained to my spouse far more times than he’d like to count, and it’s that the world is too interested in aesthetic these days. Not to sound like Ye Olde Ranter, but social media has perpetuated the idea that all things must be pretty and Instagrammable.

Let me give you an example. My spouse and I often like to spend a night in town to see a show. We used to stay at a crappy motel that was just enough off the beaten path from downtown to be Uber-able, but also hip and fun. This place had strong margaritas, unfancy tacos, and a 1960s-style motor-inn pool filled with beautiful people and loud hip-hop music blasting from the bar. The rooms were anything but fancy, but every time we stayed there, we had a blast—and it became a routine romantic getaway spot for us.

Of course, in the way of capitalism, it got bought out and quickly went sideways. All the fun and originality were squeezed out of it in favor of a bland beige color scheme, watered-down drinks, and a million add-on fees. What made it unique was squashed.

When my spouse and I were first dating, we often spent our time at the dollar movie, the local Pizza Hut with its 90s selection on the Juke Box, or simply hanging out at a park with a picnic. It’s these memories that stick with me. They are particular to us, and they will someday probably form a poem that’s an ode to all things cheap and not-shiny, to the simple attractions in life, to the person who I loved being with even when we couldn’t afford the aesthetic.

It might seem strange to write a love poem that’s part ode to the crappy motel, but to my spouse, it’s a little secret message. I miss that time, I remember the fun we had, even when we couldn’t afford to do something fancy. These days, we can afford to stay at nicer places. This last weekend, we hit up a local Houston speakeasy with a beautiful, meticulous garden. And while the drinks were nice and the ambiance nicer, it didn’t quite have that special vibe.

Of course, someone else might feel entirely differently based on their experiences, the memories, and weird little moments that make up a relationship: That is the stuff of poetry.

Things that feel fresh and authentic are often also rough around the edges. If we put aside the goal of writing something just right and instead focus on writing something that would please the person we are writing for, then it gets a lot easier.

In the end, you might achieve both originality and imperfect perfection: A poem that feels perfect for the person you love.

To that end, here’s a simple writing prompt to help you write a love poem to someone you love.

Writing the Love Poem: Know the Object of Your Affections

Whether you’re writing a poem to a lover, friend, or family member, the key is to focus on centering that person in your poem. Consider their interests, hobbies, weird little quirks, and what makes them special to you.

Intimacy is hard to quantify. Relationships are made up of a thousand little shared moments specific to the person you’re with. Make your love poem a private shared world between two people with a history.

1. Think about a specific memory you shared with this person. Write a few lines about that memory, or if you get stuck, start with “I remember the time…”

2. Brainstorm three words that describe the person. Are they funny? Kind? Confident? Shy? Get abstract: What color describes the person you love? If they were an animal, what kind would they be?

3. What is the person you love’s biggest fear? If you could take away one pain they have, what would it be?

4. What do you wish you could ask the person you love? What is one thing you want them to know if you died tomorrow?

Don’t worry about your poem being too cliche or sappy. The point of a love poem when it’s written for someone else is to connect with that person. They’ll love it simply because you took the time to write it. Everyone wants to feel loved, especially by those who most matter to them.

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Upcoming Workshops from Your Host with the Most Writing Prompts, Holly Lyn Walrath

Sip + Create: Writing the Love Poem DATE: Saturday, February 14th TIME: 6:00PM - 8:00PM LOCATION: Merge Art Studio, 2000 Nance St. Studio B-126 ​Show the one you love how much you care with the most personal gift possible: A custom Valentine featuring a love poem in your own words. Whether you're celebrating a partner, friend, or your own beautiful self, this event will help you find the words to tell someone how much you care. Featuring a make-your-own Valentine art experience and Valentine-themed drinks. Couples welcome! The Art of Ekphrasis: Writing with Visual Art DATE: 4 Zoom Meetings: March 8th, 15th, 22nd, and 29th, 10am-12pm CST, with asynchronous content via Writing Workshops ​ Ekphrasis is the art of writing in response to art. This generative workshop invites writers of all genres to explore the intersection of art and words. Through four guided observation sessions (taking place via Zoom), students will learn to pay attention to detail, describe what they see in vivid and unique ways, and grow their writing practice through art. Writers are observers at heart, and this class provides hands-on exercises to boost observation skills and break out of creative blocks. Fill up your well of inspiration through art. Sip + Create: Junk Journaling  DATE: Saturday, May 9th, 2026 ​TIME: 6:00PM - 8:00PM LOCATION: Merge Art Studio, 2000 Nance St. Studio B-126 ​ Junk journaling is the playful, easy art of transforming everyday paper scraps and forgotten ephemera into a meaningful, visual record of your life. In this hands-on workshop, we’ll celebrate imperfection, curiosity, and creativity by giving new purpose to materials that might otherwise be tossed away. Receipts, catalogues, magazines, napkins, seed packets, book pages, postage stamps, junk mail, greeting cards, scraps of lace, packaging, old wallpaper—if it feels like junk to you, it’s exactly what we want to work with. 30 Stories in 30 Days DATE: 4 Weeks Starting July 1st TIME: Asynchronous via Writing Workshops This generative workshop is chock full of 30 writing prompts for short story writers. Whether you write micro fiction, flash fiction, or short stories, these 30 prompts are meant to inspire and support you in this unique writing challenge. You've heard of NaPoWriMo (National Poetry Writing Month), where poets write 30 poems in 30 days, and you've probably heard of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), where writers try to write a novel in a month. Now, you can do the same with short stories. Whether you're writing to a specific theme, assembling stories for a collection, or want to try writing a series of connected stories, this workshop will explore new contemporary structures like The Tryptich or The Wikipedia Entry. Sip + Create Van Gogh's Sunflowers DATE: Saturday, July 11th, 2026 TIME: 6:00PM - 8:00PM LOCATION: Merge Art Studio, 2000 Nance St. Studio B-126 ​ In this writing + art workshop, we'll explore one of the most iconic artists of all time: Vincent Van Gogh. Inspired by Van Gogh's famous sunflowers, we'll paint sunny summer sunflowers and incorporate Van Gogh's writing into our creative practice. Van Gogh was not only a talented painter but also a lifelong letter writer. This unique workshop will give you an opportunity to learn about Van Gogh's life and create a piece of art in the spirit of one of the most popular artists in history.

30 Genres in 30 Days DATE: 4 Weeks Starting January 1, 2026 TIME: Asynchronous via Writing Workshops Get ready to discover the magic of different genres in this fun and interactive 30-day workshop tailored for short story writers. Whether you’re into mystery, romance, horror, or science fiction, this workshop will help you grasp the unique elements and essentials of each genre. Revisioning Your Poems  DATE: 4 Weeks Starting April 6th, 2026 TIME: Asynchronous via Writing Workshops ​ Do you struggle to know when a poem is “done”? Do you have a ton of poems, but you’re not sure if they’re ready for publication? Do you need help learning how to edit your own work better? Join us for a nitty-gritty dive into the different methods of revising poetry. Learn how to self-edit for voice, form, structure, tone, and meter to re-envision your poems. Give life to your old drafts and prepare them for submission with help from a professional editor. Sip + Create: National Poetry Month Blackout Poetry DATE: Saturday, April 11th, 2026 ​ TIME: 7:00PM - 9:00PM LOCATION: Merge Art Studio, 2000 Nance St. Studio B-126 In celebration of National Poetry Month, learn how to create your own blackout poetry. Play with words and art by erasing words on the page to form a poem. Explore the history of blackout poetry and learn how it defies genre, questions texts and sources, and provides ample play room for writers looking for inspiration. Queer Poetics DATE: 4 Weeks Starting June 1, 2026 TIME: Asynchronous via Writing Workshops This workshop is an intersectional primer on LGBTQIA+ writers throughout the history of poetry. We’ll explore poets like Walt Whitman, Adrienne Rich, Allen Ginsberg, and Audre Lorde, but also the contemporary queer poets who have catapulted into the mainstream, like Jericho Brown and Danez Smith. We’ll write poems alongside and inspired by the voices of queer poetics. This class is meant both for writers who want to explore their queerness and for writers who want to learn more about the history of queer poetry. Sip + Create Pride Party DATE: Saturday, June 13, 2026 TIME: 6:00PM - 8:00PM LOCATION: Merge Art Studio, 2000 Nance St. Studio B-126 ​ "What I liked about the rainbow is that it fits all of us. It's all the colors. It represents all the genders. It represents all the races. It's the rainbow of humanity" —Gilbert Baker, designer of the Pride flag. Paint the rainbow with this fun art + writing workshop in celebration of Pride Month. In this workshop, we'll write about the queer experience, gender, and identity. Then, we'll pair our writing with a rainbow-colored piece of art. Grow with Van Gogh: A 70-in-70 Challenge for Creatives  DATES: 10 Weeks Starting Tuesday, September 1st, 2026 TIME: Asynchronous via Writing Workshops Secluded in a small village outside of Paris, the famous impressionist artist Vincent van Gogh spent the final 70 days of his life doing what he loved: painting every day. This remarkable period and astonishing burst of creativity inspires this unique workshop. Grow with Van Gogh is a 70-day challenge for writers, artists, and all creatives looking to generate new work and push their boundaries.

Self-Paced Workshops (Sign Up Anytime!)

Self-Paced Course: 30 Poems In 30 Days DATE: Ongoing TIME: Asynchronous, Self-paced via Poetry Barn PRICE: $149 This class came out of NaPoWriMo (National Poetry Writing Month), which happens every year in April. Similarly, the goal of this self-paced class is to write 30 poems in 30 days. However, you might write one poem a day, or several poems in a day, and then give yourself a break. It’s totally up to you! Whether you’re writing to a specific theme, assembling a group of poems for a chapbook, or you want to try writing a longer poetic sequence, this workshop is meant to support you with generative prompts and experiences to get you creating plenty of new work. Self-Paced Course: Journaling for Poets DATE: Ongoing TIME: Asynchronous, Self-paced via Poetry Barn PRICE: $99 Poets are observers. One way to keep track of your observations and ideas is through a writing journal. In this workshop, we'll cover the basics of journaling for poets, not just as a method of processing and keeping track of your thoughts, but as a method of improving your writing life and working towards a career as a writer.  In this workshop, you'll cover how to manage large ideas or projects, track submissions, create goals, revising, and more, all while exploring popular methods of journaling to find the one that works for you. If you feel out of sorts or disorganized in your writing life, this workshop is for you!

Self-Paced Course: Queer Poetics DATE: Ongoing ​TIME: Asynchronous, Self-paced via Poetry Barn ​PRICE: $99 This workshop is an intersectional primer on LGBTQIA+ writers throughout the history of poetry. We’ll explore poets like Walt Whitman, Adrienne Rich, Allen Ginsberg, and Audre Lorde, but also the contemporary queer poets who have catapulted into the mainstream like Jericho Brown and Danez Smith. We’ll write poems alongside and inspired by the voices of queer poetics. This class is meant both for writers who want to explore their queerness and for writers who want to learn more about the history of queer poetry. Self-Paced Course: Writing Resistance Through Erasure, Found Text & Visual Poetry DATE: Ongoing TIME: Asynchronous, Self-paced via Poetry Barn PRICE: $99 Hybrid poetry forms can be a powerful form of resistance. From Jerrod Schwarz’s erasure of Trump’s inaugural speech to Niina Pollari’s black outs of the N-400 citizenship form, contemporary poets are engaging with the world through text, creating new and challenging works of art. Heralded by the rise of the “Instapoet,” visual works are a way to take poetry one step further by crafting new forms and structures that often transcend the page.

The first title I had for this post was “Everything is awful, but I keep coming back to writing.” And while that’s true, I’m spending less time writing these days than ever. I’m spending a lot of time on self-care, and it is very hard not to let that time feel wasted. But what I’ve realized is that I have to take care of myself or I can’t create.

As humans living in a technological society where our attention is constantly being divided and demanded, not to mention a world that’s constantly in turmoil, and a news cycle that’s 90% whiplash, 9% trauma, and less than 1% hopecore, more than ever, we have to find ways to survive.

What Is Ekphrasis?

In the epic poem The Iliad by Homer, we find what most consider the first ever instance of ekphrasis: The description of art using writing. The ancient god of fire and the forge, Hephaestus, creates a shield for the great hero Achilles. And while the shield is imaginary, its detailed description makes it feel real, or perhaps beyond real, since the shield is said to have images of cities, wars, dancers, fields of grain, vineyards, and herds of marching oxen. Even as far back as the earliest literature, writers utilized the tool of image to draw a reader into a story.

Image is the basis of all fictional writing: it lets the reader imagine a scene, a character, a place. The writer who can’t express an image can’t write. One way to practice creating vivid images is via ekphrasis.

This is the subject of my upcoming writing workshop starting in March. Entirely online, this workshop meets four times in March with interactive Zoom sessions focused on helping writers learn to see like an artist.

“Then first he form’d the immense and solid shield; Rich various artifice emblazed the field; Its utmost verge a threefold circle bound; A silver chain suspends the massy round; Five ample plates the broad expanse compose, And godlike labours on the surface rose. There shone the image of the master-mind: There earth, there heaven, there ocean he design’d; The unwearied sun, the moon completely round; The starry lights that heaven’s high convex crown’d; The Pleiads, Hyads, with the northern team; And great Orion’s more refulgent beam; To which, around the axle of the sky, The Bear, revolving, points his golden eye, Still shines exalted on the ethereal plain, Nor bathes his blazing forehead in the main.” —The Iliad, Homer, Book 18

Hephaestus presents Achilles' new armor to Thetis (Iliad, XVIII, 617). Attic red-figure Kylix, 490-480 BCE by the Foundry Painter.

In its earliest usage, the term ekphrasis dates back to Greek and Roman scholars. The term comes from the Greek word “ekphrázein”, which means “to proclaim or call an inanimate object by name.” Ekphrasis was highly studied and even had complex rules for describing anything. The goal was to create a vivid mental image that stirred the reader’s emotions.

Early orators also used images in their mind to organize an argument. This was called “ars memoria” and continues today in how students memorize basic concepts using Mnemonic devices.

Ancient Greek Orator Demosthenes, Eugène Delacroix (1798–1863)

Today, we use the word “ekphrastic” to refer to any writing that describes art. “Writing” and “art” are both loose terms here. An ekphrastic writing might be inspired by and describe a famous work of art like Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. But ekphrasis contains multitudes: I’ve also seen fan fiction described as ekphrastic. It’s common to use ekphrasis to describe other works like music, landscapes, or architecture.

The most common form of ekphrasis is poetry. There’s something particular about a poem’s ability to encapsulate a work of art in just a few lines that a longer story might struggle to recreate. I think this is in part because poetry at its heart can be about description and image, while story is rooted in narrative. Ekphrastic poets often describe a work of art, while ekphrastic storyists make a narrative out of the art, imagining the characters as real, living people. Both are worthwhile methods to explore when trying out ekphrasis as a writer.

One poetry form that uses ekphrasis is the ode. It is often used to describe a person, place, or object, but is more commonly used to describe art.

The most well-known Ode is probably John Keats’ “Ode on a Grecian Urn”, written after Keats visited the British Museum with friend and painter Benjamin Robert Haydon. There, the two visited the department of antiquities, and Keats wrote a series of Odes based on the experience. Keats’ poem seems to suggest that the value of art is that it lives on even when humans have died:

“When old age shall this generation waste,

                Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe

Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say'st,

         "Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all

                Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know."

— John Keats, Ode on a Grecian Urn, 1819

[Photograph: Vase of Sosibios, Louvre, Townley Vase, British Museum]

While not directly inspired by a specific painting, Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray is a novel inspired by art. In 1884, Oscar Wilde visited the studio of Basil Ward, a painter working on a portrait of a beautiful young man. “What a pity that such a glorious creature should ever grow old!” Wilde remarked. Basil Ward agreed and added, “How delightful it would be if he could remain exactly as he is, while the portrait aged and withered in his stead!” Wilde would go on to put Basil Ward in his story as the painter Basil Hallward, and the plot mirrored the exchange.

Wilde’s book has one of the most fascinating descriptions of an imaginary painting ever written, as the protagonist in the book stays young forever while his portrait ages (and shows evidence of his moral depravity). For obvious reasons, it has also inspired many paintings:

“He went in quietly, locking the door behind him, as was his custom, and dragged the purple hanging from the portrait. A cry of pain and indignation broke from him. He could see no change, save that in the eyes there was a look of cunning and in the mouth the curved wrinkle of the hypocrite. The thing was still loathsome—more loathsome, if possible, than before—and the scarlet dew that spotted the hand seemed brighter, and more like blood newly spilled. Then he trembled. Had it been merely vanity that had made him do his one good deed? Or the desire for a new sensation, as Lord Henry had hinted, with his mocking laugh? Or that passion to act a part that sometimes makes us do things finer than we are ourselves? Or, perhaps, all these? And why was the red stain larger than it had been? It seemed to have crept like a horrible disease over the wrinkled fingers. There was blood on the painted feet, as though the thing had dripped—blood even on the hand that had not held the knife. Confess? Did it mean that he was to confess? To give himself up and be put to death? He laughed. He felt that the idea was monstrous. Besides, even if he did confess, who would believe him? There was no trace of the murdered man anywhere. Everything belonging to him had been destroyed. He himself had burned what had been below-stairs. The world would simply say that he was mad. They would shut him up if he persisted in his story.... Yet it was his duty to confess, to suffer public shame, and to make public atonement. There was a God who called upon men to tell their sins to earth as well as to heaven. Nothing that he could do would cleanse him till he had told his own sin. His sin? He shrugged his shoulders. The death of Basil Hallward seemed very little to him. He was thinking of Hetty Merton. For it was an unjust mirror, this mirror of his soul that he was looking at. Vanity? Curiosity? Hypocrisy? Had there been nothing more in his renunciation than that? There had been something more. At least he thought so. But who could tell? ... No. There had been nothing more. Through vanity he had spared her. In hypocrisy he had worn the mask of goodness. For curiosity’s sake he had tried the denial of self. He recognized that now.” —The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde, 1890

The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1943–44, Ivan Albright (1897-1983)

Art criticism and the art essay have also been seen as ekphrasis. Yet writing that aims to critique should perhaps be put in a different category.  The central aim of the ekphrastic work is not to cast judgment, but to create an entirely new and original work inspired by the first.

From medieval times through the Renaissance, highly descriptive writing was the norm. Writers like Edmund Spenser used heavy, flowery description in works like the Faerie Queene (1590). These passages of description went on and on, and probably feel difficult to comprehend for the modern reader.

As writing evolved, a simpler approach became more popular, and these days it is common for writers to receive advice to avoid “purple prose”. Writers are taught to be as sparse as possible, “like Hemingway”, aiming for “showing, not telling”. The downfall of this focus on scarcity is that it limits the writer’s ability to craft image. Writers don’t learn the art of description, which is in many ways where the writer’s best skills should lie.

Yet time and again, writers return to ekphrasis, the art of describing art. It’s my fundamental belief that all forms of art—from writing to painting to photography to knitting—benefit from a deep engagement with other art forms. This borrowing and inspiring and acknowledgement of a wider world of art serves as a kind of living ecosystem where everything is in conversation with everything else.

A conversation goes two ways. And that is the aim of a good ekphrastic piece: To talk to the past. 

Why Ekphrasis?

Early writers used ekphrasis because images were rare. It’s hard to believe that in today’s image-heavy world. In the palm of our hands, we can pull up the Mona Lisa and zoom in to view Da Vinci’s hidden message in her iris. On a computer in our lap, we can take an interactive tour of the Louvre. Many people live in a city with a museum where art is on display and can be viewed by anyone. Works of art that once hung on a rich man’s wall are now democratized (insomuch as museum access is democratized by free ticket days and school visits).

In ancient history, artistic renditions were for the few and privileged. Access to art has grown exponentially with the advent of the internet and museums open to the public. Ekphasis was a necessary tool before this because it helped the average person see art.

In today’s world where anyone can view a work of art: What role does ekphrasis have? Why bother learning to describe art?

The Power of Description in Learning

One surprising thing I’ve learned teaching art and writing is that not everyone knows how to look at a piece of art, let alone how to write about it. Before you can describe something, you have to be able to observe it.

This isn’t to say that there is a wrong or right way to look at art. But many people often feel that art, like writing, is inaccessible. They look at a work of visual art and don’t know how to react, or even what they are looking at. They feel they have to understand how the art was made before they can relate to it. Reading the little label next to the art is often unhelpful because it may not explain the key aspects of the art. Or it may explain the art, but not the context of who made it, when, and why. The viewer might wish for an authority figure, someone with experience who can demystify the art.

That privilege of who gets to see art still exists today because while art is more available, our ability to interpret it has fallen away. That’s where ekphrasis can be helpful. Describing something is often used as a method of learning. By describing what we see, we learn how to see it better.

Ekphrasis provides a way of having a deeper engagement with art. Like journaling about our feelings, writing about what we see in a piece of art can help us understand it. Simple conversations about an object can provide insight into its meaning.

In the art world, we call this “object-based learning.” It’s the concept that by discussing and describing an object to others, we are better able to connect with and learn about the object. Object-based learning can occur as a discussion or as ekphrasis: creating an artwork inspired by another artwork.

Writing about a piece of art suddenly forces the writer to use a new toolbox: color, texture, movement, figure, perspective—describing the elements of a painting asks the writer to expand their skillset.

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Beyond Description Lies the Personal

When writing about art, there’s a point where the writer goes beyond just description. While ekphrasis can be a simple description of an artwork, what makes a good piece of ekphrasis is personal connection.

After all, writing about art is a connection between the writer and the artist. If I took ten writers to the museum and asked them to choose a painting to write about, they would probably all choose different works of art based on what they like.

Think of the amateur painter. They might start out by trying to truthfully depict what they see on the page. They might copy other works, trying to learn the basic techniques of brush to paper. But once the basics are mastered, the amateur becomes a master by creating their own unique style.

Writing works the same way, and to be a good ekphrastic writer means you bring something of yourself to the page. Really excellent ekphrastic works contain a few simple elements:

• A description of the artwork in the writer’s own voice and style.

•  A narrative or story told about or inspired by the artwork.

• A personal connection that makes the experience unique.

After all, we couldn’t love John Keats’ simple poem on a Grecian urn if we didn’t also love Keats himself. When we learn that Keats was an orphan (having lost his father, brother, and mother) and only 23 at its writing, the lines praising the urn for its ability to live forever give new insight into the grieving young man who would die only a few years after writing the now-famous poem.

And Oscar Wilde’s portrayal of a flamboyant, flippant young man has formed the basis for an entire queer persona. The “dandy” Wilde played in life was just as tragic as Dorian Gray, in many ways, obsessed with beauty and secretly concerned with how the world might view his hidden transgressions.

Ekphrasis isn’t just a mode in which the writer can develop their description skills. It’s also a way of connecting with the world, of imprinting your personal voice and style onto a larger conversation.

References

(Rippl, Gabriele. "Ekphrasis." In The Oxford Encyclopedia of Literary Theory. Oxford University Press, 2022. https://www-oxfordreference-com.ezproxy.rice.edu/view/10.1093/acref/9780190699604.001.0001/acref-9780190699604-e-1057.)

Upcoming Workshops from Your Host with the Most Writing Prompts, Holly Lyn Walrath

Sip + Create: Writing the Love Poem DATE: Saturday, February 14th TIME: 6:00PM - 8:00PM LOCATION: Merge Art Studio, 2000 Nance St. Studio B-126 ​Show the one you love how much you care with the most personal gift possible: A custom Valentine featuring a love poem in your own words. Whether you're celebrating a partner, friend, or your own beautiful self, this event will help you find the words to tell someone how much you care. Featuring a make-your-own Valentine art experience and Valentine-themed drinks. Couples welcome! The Art of Ekphrasis: Writing with Visual Art DATE: 4 Zoom Meetings: March 8th, 15th, 22nd, and 29th, 10am-12pm CST, with asynchronous content via Writing Workshops ​ Ekphrasis is the art of writing in response to art. This generative workshop invites writers of all genres to explore the intersection of art and words. Through four guided observation sessions (taking place via Zoom), students will learn to pay attention to detail, describe what they see in vivid and unique ways, and grow their writing practice through art. Writers are observers at heart, and this class provides hands-on exercises to boost observation skills and break out of creative blocks. Fill up your well of inspiration through art. Sip + Create: Junk Journaling  DATE: Saturday, May 9th, 2026 ​TIME: 6:00PM - 8:00PM LOCATION: Merge Art Studio, 2000 Nance St. Studio B-126 ​ Junk journaling is the playful, easy art of transforming everyday paper scraps and forgotten ephemera into a meaningful, visual record of your life. In this hands-on workshop, we’ll celebrate imperfection, curiosity, and creativity by giving new purpose to materials that might otherwise be tossed away. Receipts, catalogues, magazines, napkins, seed packets, book pages, postage stamps, junk mail, greeting cards, scraps of lace, packaging, old wallpaper—if it feels like junk to you, it’s exactly what we want to work with. 30 Stories in 30 Days DATE: 4 Weeks Starting July 1st TIME: Asynchronous via Writing Workshops This generative workshop is chock full of 30 writing prompts for short story writers. Whether you write micro fiction, flash fiction, or short stories, these 30 prompts are meant to inspire and support you in this unique writing challenge. You've heard of NaPoWriMo (National Poetry Writing Month), where poets write 30 poems in 30 days, and you've probably heard of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), where writers try to write a novel in a month. Now, you can do the same with short stories. Whether you're writing to a specific theme, assembling stories for a collection, or want to try writing a series of connected stories, this workshop will explore new contemporary structures like The Tryptich or The Wikipedia Entry.

30 Genres in 30 Days DATE: 4 Weeks Starting January 1, 2026 TIME: Asynchronous via Writing Workshops Get ready to discover the magic of different genres in this fun and interactive 30-day workshop tailored for short story writers. Whether you’re into mystery, romance, horror, or science fiction, this workshop will help you grasp the unique elements and essentials of each genre. Revisioning Your Poems  DATE: 4 Weeks Starting April 6th, 2026 TIME: Asynchronous via Writing Workshops ​ Do you struggle to know when a poem is “done”? Do you have a ton of poems, but you’re not sure if they’re ready for publication? Do you need help learning how to edit your own work better? Join us for a nitty-gritty dive into the different methods of revising poetry. Learn how to self-edit for voice, form, structure, tone, and meter to re-envision your poems. Give life to your old drafts and prepare them for submission with help from a professional editor. Sip + Create: National Poetry Month Blackout Poetry DATE: Saturday, April 11th, 2026 ​ TIME: 7:00PM - 9:00PM LOCATION: Merge Art Studio, 2000 Nance St. Studio B-126 In celebration of National Poetry Month, learn how to create your own blackout poetry. Play with words and art by erasing words on the page to form a poem. Explore the history of blackout poetry and learn how it defies genre, questions texts and sources, and provides ample play room for writers looking for inspiration. Queer Poetics DATE: 4 Weeks Starting June 1, 2026 TIME: Asynchronous via Writing Workshops This workshop is an intersectional primer on LGBTQIA+ writers throughout the history of poetry. We’ll explore poets like Walt Whitman, Adrienne Rich, Allen Ginsberg, and Audre Lorde, but also the contemporary queer poets who have catapulted into the mainstream, like Jericho Brown and Danez Smith. We’ll write poems alongside and inspired by the voices of queer poetics. This class is meant both for writers who want to explore their queerness and for writers who want to learn more about the history of queer poetry. Grow with Van Gogh: A 70-in-70 Challenge for Creatives  DATES: 10 Weeks Starting Tuesday, September 1st, 2026 TIME: Asynchronous via Writing Workshops Secluded in a small village outside of Paris, the famous impressionist artist Vincent van Gogh spent the final 70 days of his life doing what he loved: painting every day. This remarkable period and astonishing burst of creativity inspires this unique workshop. Grow with Van Gogh is a 70-day challenge for writers, artists, and all creatives looking to generate new work and push their boundaries.

Self-Paced Workshops (Sign Up Anytime!)

Self-Paced Course: 30 Poems In 30 Days DATE: Ongoing TIME: Asynchronous, Self-paced via Poetry Barn PRICE: $149 This class came out of NaPoWriMo (National Poetry Writing Month), which happens every year in April. Similarly, the goal of this self-paced class is to write 30 poems in 30 days. However, you might write one poem a day, or several poems in a day, and then give yourself a break. It’s totally up to you! Whether you’re writing to a specific theme, assembling a group of poems for a chapbook, or you want to try writing a longer poetic sequence, this workshop is meant to support you with generative prompts and experiences to get you creating plenty of new work. Self-Paced Course: Journaling for Poets DATE: Ongoing TIME: Asynchronous, Self-paced via Poetry Barn PRICE: $99 Poets are observers. One way to keep track of your observations and ideas is through a writing journal. In this workshop, we'll cover the basics of journaling for poets, not just as a method of processing and keeping track of your thoughts, but as a method of improving your writing life and working towards a career as a writer.  In this workshop, you'll cover how to manage large ideas or projects, track submissions, create goals, revising, and more, all while exploring popular methods of journaling to find the one that works for you. If you feel out of sorts or disorganized in your writing life, this workshop is for you!

Self-Paced Course: Queer Poetics DATE: Ongoing ​TIME: Asynchronous, Self-paced via Poetry Barn ​PRICE: $99 This workshop is an intersectional primer on LGBTQIA+ writers throughout the history of poetry. We’ll explore poets like Walt Whitman, Adrienne Rich, Allen Ginsberg, and Audre Lorde, but also the contemporary queer poets who have catapulted into the mainstream like Jericho Brown and Danez Smith. We’ll write poems alongside and inspired by the voices of queer poetics. This class is meant both for writers who want to explore their queerness and for writers who want to learn more about the history of queer poetry. Self-Paced Course: Writing Resistance Through Erasure, Found Text & Visual Poetry DATE: Ongoing TIME: Asynchronous, Self-paced via Poetry Barn PRICE: $99 Hybrid poetry forms can be a powerful form of resistance. From Jerrod Schwarz’s erasure of Trump’s inaugural speech to Niina Pollari’s black outs of the N-400 citizenship form, contemporary poets are engaging with the world through text, creating new and challenging works of art. Heralded by the rise of the “Instapoet,” visual works are a way to take poetry one step further by crafting new forms and structures that often transcend the page.

What sparks your creativity?

What makes you excited to sit down and do the work—whether it’s writing, creating, or even letting your brain relax for a bit to dream?

What’s bringing you joy and light in 2026?

These are the questions I’m diving into with a brand new, somewhat terrifying adventure I’m starting in 2026. I’m excited to announce that in December, I signed a lease on a little artist studio located in the heart of Houston. That’s right, I’m taking my art into a new place—literally. And guess what? You’re coming with me, lovelies.

For a long time, I’ve struggled to feel excited about creating art. Writing—sure, it’s always there for me, and I think I’ll always be someone who writes regularly. But lately, I’ve struggled to find time for creative inspiration. Visiting museums. Playing around with new mediums. Trying new things. Experimenting. Collaborating. Reading books for creatives. Visiting bookstores. Talking to other writers and creatives. These are all what I call “creative inputs”.

You can do the work by sitting down and putting your nose to the grindstone, and that will work, but after a while, you may find your nose has fallen off. Ouch. A faster, and much more fun way, is through creative inputs.

Creative inputs help you find the spark in your work—whatever it may be. I often find that the people who attend my workshops in person tell me some variation on: “I needed this. I was stagnant with my creative process, and now I feel like I’ve found my spark again.” Most of us work day jobs that suck the light out of us.

Finding that spark is the topic of my new in-person creative workshop, happening January 10th at my new art studio:

Register for my latest in-person workshop, happening January 10th in Houston, Texas at Merge Art Studio

It’s a term I borrowed from Jeff VanderMeer’s Wonderbook. In it, VanderMeer lists different places inspiration can come from—family, the environment, personal experience, religion, research, luck/chance, and other texts. I’ve used all of these as inspiration in the past. There are dark inspiration points, and there are light inspiration points. Trauma can be an inspiration, but reliving it can be challenging.

As kids, we get to play. I remember growing up in the 90s and spending every day in a sun-kissed summer vacation where I went to the pool, read books on my roof while tanning, and hung out with friends who made up involved, intricate adventure stories.

I was a narrative artist even then, but I never realized how much I would miss that feeling of whimsy and freedom.

For me, the only way to recapture that and get re-inspired in my work is by creative experimentation.

From Jeff VanderMeer’s Wonderbook

I remember serving on a panel once where another writer was asked if he ever experimented with his writing. He frankly insisted that such a thing was not necessary. “I’m not here to experiment, I’m here to make money.” He explained that writing was only an ends to a means for him—and any time he spent went into writing that would one day “pay off.” He saw no value in experimenting because he knew what worked. And while that worked for him, I knew it would make me miserable.

I totally understand where he might have been coming from—we all want to hope that our creative endeavors will become careers. And it’s totally fine to stick to what you love—if it makes you happy. (This guy did NOT sound happy!) But the truth is, flexibility matters more than a focus on some economic goal.

For me, trying new things is a joy. I might fail. I might suck at it, at first. I might struggle. But most of the time, that’s okay. I hear a lot of creatives worry about trying new things. Shouldn’t I have a voice? Shouldn’t I have a niche?

Maybe, but maybe not.

Sadly, a lot of our creative world wants to force people into a box. TikTok is a great example. It forces creators into a specific niche. People find similar videos comforting, so artists end up creating the same type of videos over and over again. And while that can work for the algorithm, it can also burn you out. If you never try anything new, you never grow. You never fail—and thus, you never learn.

The reality is that what makes your work special is YOU.

Austin Kleon, “Don’t Worry About Unity”

I’m a creative who dabbles across genres. I write, but I also paint. I take film photographs, and I also make haiku out of those photographs. I make erasure poems or “poem paintings” that merge text and paint. I write prose poetry and speculative creative nonfiction. Most of what I do is some merging of art and words.

So for a long time, I’ve struggled to figure out what my “voice” is. I am still figuring that out. I hope to be figuring it out for years to come. I worried early on that I wasn’t doing anything recognizable. And maybe I’m not. But I’m doing what I love, and that’s something entirely different.

Doing what you love is, actually, as it turns out, a lot of frigging work. You might find yourself in the midst of a project, look around, and realize it no longer brings you joy. You might find you love something so much that you don’t know how to rein it in and focus. You might find that what you thought you loved is actually really hard—and thus you have to work hard to do it.

Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would have my own art studio. My own space to host other creatives and dream and paint and get messy and write and do what I love.

Large-scale erasure poems by Holly Lyn Walrath, erasure of “Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists” by Linda Nochlin

Poem + Photography still of Houston strip mall at night, taken with a 1959 Ambi Silette using low-light film

A “cover up” poem of La Belle Dame sans Merci by John Keats (1819), using art by Frank Dicksee

It’s time to stop assigning meaning to what we do and instead focus on why we do it. The world is a mess, and in the end, doing what you love is the only thing that matters. We have so little time. So little words in us. So little space to create.

Virginia Woolf once said, “a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction.” Well, that room of my own is finally manifested this year. Will the money follow? I’m operating on the “build it and they will come” policy (it has never steered me wrong.)

I haven’t been this excited about a new endeavor in a long time. I can’t wait to share the journey with you. Thanks for being here with me.

This is me telling you that in 2026, I give you permission to find what sparks your joy. Glow up, baby.

Love what I do? Consider upgrading for just $25/year to support The Weird Circular, hosted by me, Holly Lyn Walrath.

Upcoming Workshops from Your Host with the Most Writing Prompts, Holly Lyn Walrath

Sip + Create Glow Party DATE: Saturday, January 10th TIME: 6:00PM - 8:00PM LOCATION: Merge Art Studio, 2000 Nance St. Studio B-126 A themed art night for creatives. Celebrate the new year with light and joy at this fun Sip + Create Glow Party. This workshop is a creative exploration merging art and words and is meant for creatives of all genres and backgrounds--painters, writers, doodlers, crafters, poets, and dreamers. Led by narrative artist Holly Lyn Walrath, participants will come together to make art that glows. No art or writing experience is necessary--just bring your spark. All supplies are provided. Let's sip, shine, and create! The Art of Ekphrasis: Writing with Visual Art DATE: 4 Zoom Meetings: March 8th, 15th, 22nd, and 29th, 10am-12pm CST, with asynchronous content via Writing Workshops ​ Ekphrasis is the art of writing in response to art. This generative workshop invites writers of all genres to explore the intersection of art and words. Through four guided observation sessions (taking place via Zoom), students will learn to pay attention to detail, describe what they see in vivid and unique ways, and grow their writing practice through art. Writers are observers at heart, and this class provides hands-on exercises to boost observation skills and break out of creative blocks. Fill up your well of inspiration through art. 30 Stories in 30 Days DATE: 4 Weeks Starting TIME: Asynchronous via Writing Workshops This generative workshop is chock full of 30 writing prompts for short story writers. Whether you write micro fiction, flash fiction, or short stories, these 30 prompts are meant to inspire and support you in this unique writing challenge. You've heard of NaPoWriMo (National Poetry Writing Month), where poets write 30 poems in 30 days, and you've probably heard of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), where writers try to write a novel in a month. Now, you can do the same with short stories. Whether you're writing to a specific theme, assembling stories for a collection, or want to try writing a series of connected stories, this workshop will explore new contemporary structures like The Tryptich or The Wikipedia Entry.

30 Genres in 30 Days DATE: 4 Weeks Starting January 1, 2026 TIME: Asynchronous via Writing Workshops Get ready to discover the magic of different genres in this fun and interactive 30-day workshop tailored for short story writers. Whether you’re into mystery, romance, horror, or science fiction, this workshop will help you grasp the unique elements and essentials of each genre. Revisioning Your Poems  DATE: 4 Weeks Starting April 6th, 2026 TIME: Asynchronous via Writing Workshops ​ Do you struggle to know when a poem is “done”? Do you have a ton of poems, but you’re not sure if they’re ready for publication? Do you need help learning how to edit your own work better? Join us for a nitty-gritty dive into the different methods of revising poetry. Learn how to self-edit for voice, form, structure, tone, and meter to re-envision your poems. Give life to your old drafts and prepare them for submission with help from a professional editor. Queer Poetics DATE: 4 Weeks Starting June 1, 2026 TIME: Asynchronous via Writing Workshops This workshop is an intersectional primer on LGBTQIA+ writers throughout the history of poetry. We’ll explore poets like Walt Whitman, Adrienne Rich, Allen Ginsberg, and Audre Lorde, but also the contemporary queer poets who have catapulted into the mainstream, like Jericho Brown and Danez Smith. We’ll write poems alongside and inspired by the voices of queer poetics. This class is meant both for writers who want to explore their queerness and for writers who want to learn more about the history of queer poetry. Grow with Van Gogh: A 70-in-70 Challenge for Creatives  DATES: 10 Weeks Starting Tuesday, September 1st, 2026 TIME: Asynchronous via Writing Workshops Secluded in a small village outside of Paris, the famous impressionist artist Vincent van Gogh spent the final 70 days of his life doing what he loved: painting every day. This remarkable period and astonishing burst of creativity inspires this unique workshop. Grow with Van Gogh is a 70-day challenge for writers, artists, and all creatives looking to generate new work and push their boundaries.

Self-Paced Workshops (Sign Up Anytime!)

Self-Paced Course: 30 Poems In 30 Days DATE: Ongoing TIME: Asynchronous, Self-paced via Poetry Barn PRICE: $149 This class came out of NaPoWriMo (National Poetry Writing Month), which happens every year in April. Similarly, the goal of this self-paced class is to write 30 poems in 30 days. However, you might write one poem a day, or several poems in a day, and then give yourself a break. It’s totally up to you! Whether you’re writing to a specific theme, assembling a group of poems for a chapbook, or you want to try writing a longer poetic sequence, this workshop is meant to support you with generative prompts and experiences to get you creating plenty of new work. Self-Paced Course: Journaling for Poets DATE: Ongoing TIME: Asynchronous, Self-paced via Poetry Barn PRICE: $99 Poets are observers. One way to keep track of your observations and ideas is through a writing journal. In this workshop, we'll cover the basics of journaling for poets, not just as a method of processing and keeping track of your thoughts, but as a method of improving your writing life and working towards a career as a writer.  In this workshop, you'll cover how to manage large ideas or projects, track submissions, create goals, revising, and more, all while exploring popular methods of journaling to find the one that works for you. If you feel out of sorts or disorganized in your writing life, this workshop is for you!

Self-Paced Course: Queer Poetics DATE: Ongoing ​TIME: Asynchronous, Self-paced via Poetry Barn ​PRICE: $99 This workshop is an intersectional primer on LGBTQIA+ writers throughout the history of poetry. We’ll explore poets like Walt Whitman, Adrienne Rich, Allen Ginsberg, and Audre Lorde, but also the contemporary queer poets who have catapulted into the mainstream like Jericho Brown and Danez Smith. We’ll write poems alongside and inspired by the voices of queer poetics. This class is meant both for writers who want to explore their queerness and for writers who want to learn more about the history of queer poetry. Self-Paced Course: Writing Resistance Through Erasure, Found Text & Visual Poetry DATE: Ongoing TIME: Asynchronous, Self-paced via Poetry Barn PRICE: $99 Hybrid poetry forms can be a powerful form of resistance. From Jerrod Schwarz’s erasure of Trump’s inaugural speech to Niina Pollari’s black outs of the N-400 citizenship form, contemporary poets are engaging with the world through text, creating new and challenging works of art. Heralded by the rise of the “Instapoet,” visual works are a way to take poetry one step further by crafting new forms and structures that often transcend the page.