It’s high summer—and high time we kicked off another
A lil’ backstory on the entirely undignified origins of these prompts: tbh, they just come flying into our business meetings out of left field. We’ll be working on schedules or planning or scholarship funding1 and somebody tells a story, which reminds somebody else of a story, and then we’re all telling stories and then somebody says, Dang, that’d be a good prompt.
We don’t know who started the chain reaction of storytelling this time, but here’s where it wound up:
Late summer. This heat.
The sense of seasons on the verge - not quite - almost - just about to change.
The wistful longing to get in the car and take off, headed anywhere but here.
The shimmer of the water patch you’re still chasing, up ahead on the road.
Skipping around on the playlist. Changing the station again.
We’re restless, watchful, waiting, alert - but to what?
We get squirrelly this time of year. Do you?
AUGUST COMMUNITY PROMPT:
Channel all that late-summer energy into an essay, a story, a poem, a dialogue or monologue, a song.
Then tag us!
A quick reminder: these prompts are just a nudge to get you rolling. We don’t like rules ourselves and we don’t like to give ’em, so there are no rules to follow, no right way to do it, and no way to do it wrong. We hope you’ll follow the prompt wherever it leads you — and bring the Caravan Community along!
And just in case…we’ve got two prompt-prompters this month.
A playlist…
and a quote.
“Cattails crowded the banks of the river, humming with bugs. The air had that late-summer feeling of everyone having left.”
—Caravan crew member Marya Hornbacher, The Center of Winter: A Novel
Maybe they’ll steer you in a whole new direction; maybe they’ll bring you full circle and carry you all the way back home.
Don’t forget to register for
with Paul Corman-Roberts and Holly Starley
Wednesdays in August (8/5, 8/12, 8/19, 8/26), 3-4:30p PT/ 6-7:30p ET.
In this four-week series, Paul & Holly team up to guide you through the maze of submission, publication, and getting an audience. They’ll cover the process of preparing your work and finding a home for it in literary journals, magazines, and books, give you the low-down on grant writing and residency applications, dip into the emerging possibilities for self-publishing, AND MUCH MORE!
Register for SUBMISSION SWEATSHOP
We knew you wanted to help bolster the scholarship fund! These are crazy times, and we’ve got way more requests for low- and no-cost seats in our courses than we can afford to provide—but we would love to have your help in making those seats available to writers who need them! You can help us by becoming a paid or founding subscriber—both of which give you a heap o’ benefits, too—or by gifting a paid or founding subscription to a writer you know, giving them a big discount on all of Caravan’s offerings. Or, you can make a donation in any amount here!
Pitch in to Caravan's Scholarship Fund!
♽, ♥️, and 🗣️! RE-STACKS, LIKES, and COMMENTS make a big difference in steering fellow writers our way.
Help us keep the Caravan Community growing!
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