Weekly Writes Volume 10: Accountability for the New Year

December 29, 2025 News and Events, Weekly Writes

Is your New Year’s resolution to write more?

To write beyond your comfort zone?

To stay accountable to your goals and projects, every week?

The Common is here to help!

Weekly Writes is a ten-week program designed to help you create original place-based writing and stay on track with your goals in the new year, beginning January 26.

We’re offering both poetry AND prose, in two separate programs. What do you want to prioritize in 2026? Pick the program, sharpen your pencils, and get ready for a weekly dose of writing inspiration (and accountability) in your inbox!

Weekly Writes Vol. 10 kicks off on January 26, just in time to help you stay accountable on your New Year’s resolutions and 2026 goals! Sign up now.

In addition to prompts and writing advice, Vol. 10 includes an added accountability angle. It can be hard to commit to a regular writing practice, but we’re here to help! Using Google Classroom, participants will turn in one page of writing per week and will receive an email from us acknowledging that they have completed their writing for that week. At the program’s end, participants will receive an email letting them know how many weeks they submitted work. Writing will not be read and no feedback will be provided, but we will help you stay on track and celebrate your success!

The program costs just $25 for 10 weeks (that’s only $2.50 per week!). This fee includes one free, expedited* submission via Submittable after program completion.

Want to learn more about the program and how it works before you sign up? Visit our FAQ page.

Each week participants receive:

⇒ Three writing prompts appropriate for both beginning and advanced writers.

- For prose writers, two prompts each week will focus on generating new material and the third will guide participants through the process of writing a longer story.
- For poets, the three weekly prompts will be a mix: generative prompts for creating brand new work, and prompts to guide revision on previous compositions.

⇒ Examples and readings to accompany some prompts, which were directly inspired by content from our magazine.

⇒ A look behind-the-scenes from our editors and contributors, with advice about writing, revising, and submitting, in addition to insights into what we’re looking for when selecting work for The Common.

⇒ An accountability incentive: upload one page per week to our system, and receive acknowledgment of your commitment to your writing practice (pages will not be read).

Weekly Writes Volume 7: Accountable You

January 4, 2023 News and Events, Weekly Writes

Weekly Writes is a ten-week program designed to help you create original place-based writing, beginning January 30.

We’re offering both poetry AND prose, in two separate programs. What do you want to prioritize in 2023? Pick the program, sharpen your pencils, and get ready for a weekly dose of writing inspiration (and accountability) in your inbox!

Weekly Writes Summer 2022: Accountable You

June 15, 2022 News and Events, Weekly Writes

Signups for Weekly Writes Summer 2022 have now closed. If you’d like to hear about our next round of Weekly Writes, please register your interest here.

Weekly Writes is a ten-week program designed to help you create original place-based writing, beginning July 18.

We’re offering both poetry AND prose, in two separate programs. What do you want to prioritize this summer? Pick the program, sharpen your pencils, and get ready for a weekly dose of writing inspiration (and accountability) in your inbox!

FAQ: Weekly Writes Vol. 10

January 5, 2022 Weekly Writes

Weekly Writes opens for sign-ups in January and June. To hear about future rounds of Weekly Writes when they open, please register your interest here.

Weekly Writes: Accountable You Questions

Q: What makes this accountability program different from past Weekly Writes volumes?

A: Weekly Writes Accountable You includes an additional focus on committing to a regular writing practice. After joining the Google Classroom, you’ll be asked to upload one page a week to show that you’ve worked on a prompt. This is not a submission to the magazine, and these assignments will not be read or receive any feedback. To recognize your hard work and commitment, you will receive a short note of encouragement after uploading your piece!

Q: Do I send in my weekly writing for you to read? Will I get editorial feedback on my weekly writing?

A: You will be asked to upload one page a week to Google Classroom to show that you’ve worked on at least one prompt. This is not a submission to the magazine, and these assignments will not be read or receive any feedback.

Q: I’ve done past sessions of Weekly Writes before. Is this the same thing?

A: No, Vol. 9 is completely new! All new prompts, editor Q&As, and more.

Q: What if I don’t want to use Google Classroom?

A: Google Classroom is the only way to receive weekly prompts, and to submit your work for accountability. Let us know if you have concerns about being able to use it!

Weekly Writes Vol. 6: Accountable You

January 5, 2022 News and Events, Weekly Writes

Sign up for Weekly Writes Vol. 6 is now closed. Please add your email here to hear when our next Weekly Writes program opens!

Weekly Writes is a ten-week program designed to help you create original place-based writing, beginning January 24.

We’re offering both poetry AND prose, in two separate programs. What do you want to prioritize in 2022? Pick the program, sharpen your pencils, and get ready for a weekly dose of writing inspiration (and accountability) in your inbox!

Weekly Writes Vol. 2

December 18, 2018 News and Events, Weekly Writes

Signups for Weekly Writes Vol. 2 closed on January 27th. To register your interest in future WW programs, click here.

Weekly Writes is a ten-week program designed to help you create original place-based fiction and nonfiction.

WW Volume 2 kicks off on January 28, just in time to help you sustain the momentum of your New Year’s writing resolution! The deadline to sign up is January 27, 2019.

Sign up for Volume 2 is now closed. The $15 fee includes one free, expedited* submission via Submittable after program completion. Prompts and advice are brand new for Volume 2, so Volume 1 participants will not encounter any repetition or old prompts.

The Common’s Weekly Writes: Week One

July 1, 2000 Weekly Writes

Advice from the Editors

“Lit mag editors shouldn’t be the first people reading your piece. Early drafts, even if they have successful elements, rarely have the tight cohesion necessary to get an acceptance. Find readers you can trust to give you frank, helpful feedback, and work hard on revisions before you submit anywhere. Time is also a great editing tool; put aside your drafts for weeks or even months, so you can come back to them with clear eyes. It’s much easier to see the bones of a piece, and to spot weak scenes or characters, when you have some distance from the initial writing process.”

— Emily Everett, Managing Editor at The Common

Weekly Prompts

	Spend a few hours exploring a place that’s fairly close to you but that you’ve never visited before. This might be a park or a historical site or it might simply be a grocery store on the other side of town. Take careful notes about this place and the people you encounter there, paying special attention to anything that strikes you as out of the ordinary. Then, brainstorm different options for how you might write a short essay about this experience.
	Brainstorm a list of significant moments from your life that are connected to place. This might be a vivid memory from childhood, a significant moment from a trip, or simply a moment from your recent history that feels representative of the place where you currently live and what makes this place unique. Then, using the examples on The Common’s website, write a dispatch—a short written snapshot of moment in time that is inextricably tied up with the location in which it took place.
	Research an occupation that takes place in an unusual or interesting environment that many readers are unlikely to know much about. This could be anything from a nail salon to a movie set to a horse track. If possible, shadow someone who works in this environment and take notes about the sights, sounds, smells, and vocabulary of this world as well as the work being done. Then, write a character profile of a person who works in this place.