Weekly Challenges

Depict your own interpretation of the night sky. What you show is up to you: the moon, the stars, other planets; lightning bugs, skyline silhouettes, the world bathed in shadow.

Pause a second to think about what you are most proud of in life, whether a single moment or a prolonged effort. How has the experience shaped you?

Write about two or more characters trapped in an elevator, waiting in a dead-still traffic jam, or otherwise temporarily stuck together. Do they find humor or stress in the situation?

Reimagine your favorite cartoon or anime character from early childhood, or now, in a more realistic way. For example, redraw Courage the Cowardly Dog as a real dog with a sheepish-looking expression. 

Alliteration is the repetition of the same letter or sound (“ch–,” “th–”) at the beginning of two or more words written closely together. Craft a poem, silly or serious, that uses alliteration in every line. 

Write about two characters pursuing the elusive sound of an ice cream truck that never comes into sight. Do they give up and trudge home in defeat? Do they eventually find themselves lost; if so, how do they navigate their way back?

Find an old stuffed animal from early childhood – or still in use! – and depict it in your chosen medium, paying special attention to the texture and quality of its fur.

Write a short story exclusively through dialogue, with the plot being a civil disagreement between characters. The topic of the argument is up to you. How do they come to a resolution in their emotionally charged back-and-forth – or don’t they?

Use all five words in a poem or short story: Lemonade. Tiptoe. Forgiven. Zipper. Abashed.

Plan out your ideal garden, or your ideal, terraformed yard. Include any fun or extravagant details that occur to you, like birdbaths, garden sheds, fruit trees, and raised beds, and feel free to label your flowers and veggies if you have them!

In poetry or prose, write about losing something small and precious to you, and the ensuing ordeal that becomes your desperate search for it – maybe to find it in the end, or maybe not to.

Through poetry, prose, or personal essay, write about the experience of being a teen. What challenges do you face day-to-day, and expect to face in the future? What do you wish to communicate with the world at large, if only it’d listen?