We said it two days ago, and we’ll say it again

The Saturday Write-Ins are where it’s at!!!

No matter what the week was like, we leave filled with creative energy, gratitude for all of you, and renewed hope.

Can’t beat that!

Want in?

We want you in too!

Join us tomorrow for the weekly Saturday Write-In, hosted by the currently on the move , who is ready to WRITE! And who can’t wait to hear your share-outs!

Don’t miss it!

Here are the details:

• Saturday, May 30

• 9-10:30 am PT / 12-1:30 pm ET / 5-6:30 pm BST / 6-7:30 pm CET

• On this Zoom link

Join the Write-In

Can’t wait to write with you!

You’ve had some questions lately.

And we’re glad you have!

Here’s what comes along with hitching your wagon to ours

All Caravaners

• Free Saturday Write-Ins every week! Each includes readings and prompts, camaraderie and community, share-outs and brilliance, and a way to commit to your practice. We’re blown away. Every. Single. Week.

• Participation in all monthly (ish) Community Prompts and roundups*

• Participation in all fun experiments like our latest Exquisite Corpse*

• Opportunities to have your work linked to or featured in highlight posts*

• Access to the Caravan Network if you choose to participate

• Membership in a 4,000+ strong collective of writers

Paid Caravaners

• All that +

• A 25% discount on all Caravan classes and weekend bootcamps—each course based in craft, interactive, inclusive, and generative and hosted by one or more of the three Caravan instructors, all of us working writers dedicated to craft and to writing for change***

• A 25% discount on all Caravan Craft Campfires—two-hour sessions, a little like lit salons, each honing in on one element of craft, each kicked-back and intimate but packing in a whole lot of craft and ways to elevate your writing***

Patron/Founding Caravaners

• All that +

• Free seats at all Caravan Craft Campfires all year round***

• The knowledge that a portion of your patron $ go to the Caravan Scholarship Fund, enabling fellow Caravan writers to enjoy courses and campfires they would otherwise not be able to attend

  ---

***An important note on those discounts and free campfire seats

Yes, if you are a paid Caravaner or a patron / founding member, you get a 25% discount on all Caravan offerings (and free campfire seats for patrons/founders).

No, you won’t automatically get the discount or free seat by clicking on the link. (We wish!) We do our best to get the discount links to your email but also don’t want to overwhelm you. If you ever want to sign up for something and need a discount link, please email us at contact@caravanwriterscollective.com (or reach out to any of the instructors).

A discount for upgrading to annual paid & patron membership—

If you do so in the next week.

And if you upgrade before our July 11 extravaganza, you get TWO ENTRIES per paid upgrade and FIVE ENTRIES per patron upgrade in our PRIZE DRAWING GIVEAWAY!

PAID OR PATRON CARAVAN DISCOUNT

And a thank you to every single one of you!

The Caravan has just turned a year old. And you’ve made our year.

We have felt so fortunate to come to know many of you and your work and to be able to connect many of you in a community of support all writers need.

If you haven’t made it to one of our Saturday Write-Ins, we highly encourage you to try one. If you have, you know. We’ll say it again:

We are blown away. Every. Single. Week.

The energy of creating together is far more than the sum of its parts—an alchemy we’re thrilled to partake in and share. The camaraderie is key to a practice that can be lonely and that can only benefit from a community of supporters. And the brilliance and depth of the work inspired there is truly awesome.

And pssst. The courses have that same energy, camaraderie, and brilliance—only more distilled, more intimate, with the opportunity to go deeper, to develop further, and to add more to your tool belts of creation and craft and inspiration.

Double pssst. We each offer 1:1 services and absolutely LOVE working closely with you on your writing projects or goals. To learn more and schedule a free consult, click here.

* Check out this collection of roundups and prompts and experiments and highlights!

OK, we know summer doesn’t officially start for another month.

But we’re already rolling.

As we do. (Seriously. Join us for our weekly Saturday Write-Ins, and catch new scenery in our Zoom backgrounds weekly. Cuz we’re on the move.)

And we know you are too.

Which is to say in metaphorical terms. In creative terms. Toward your best work. We know this because we’ve read (or heard)—

Your Snake Takes*

Your prompt responses at the Saturday Write-Ins*

Your work inspired by Caravan offerings*

And they’re GOOOD.

Like we’re-blown-away-and-honored-and-humbled-and-grateful-you’re-with-us good.

Not to mention this Exquisite Corpse we birthed together!!!

Swoon

*Wanna share your work with the Caravan and beyond?

So do we!

A few ways include:

— Get in on the Snake Takes.

Write to the prompt “Snake.” Follow it wherever it goes. We want literal snakes. Metaphorical snakes. Mythical snakes. Symbolic snakes. Dragons cuz they’re related to snakes. Your mother’s hands cuz they’re not. But kind of. Hissing, underground, sidewinding serpents. Or truly anything “Snake” conjures in your brilliant, curious mind. Write it. Post it. Tag us at . We’re going to be sharing the roundup sometime mid-June. So get on it. Need inspiration? Here’s Marya’s. And here’s Holly’s.

— Attend a Saturday write-in.

Each week, we write to prompts. And at the end, we bask in each other’s words of wisdom and wit and humor and resistance and craft. All are invited. It’s a fabulous way to commit to weekly practice. And it’s community that’s powerful. Plus, we’re looking for a couple more pieces created in a Write-In so we can share some samples of the gorgeous work those gatherings inspire. Send them here.

— Anytime you share work inspired by a Caravan offering, please be sure to tag us or otherwise let us know.

We want to elevate your work—to pass it around among us Caravaners and, thus, multiple the eyes and minds and hearts that get to enjoy it. You see, in the Caravan, we all rise together! We’ll boost your work and share it. And we share highlight posts at least once a season.

What Are the ✨Dates✨ Though?

Yes, yes!

✨ Save July 11 for our Caravan Extravaganza—

Specifically, our Season 3 wrap-up / Grow to Roll campaign prize drawing giveaway / reading / Caravan 1st Birthday Party Extravaganza!!

It’ll be a doozy to fit that name! Plus, we’ll talk about what we’ve learned from the first year of Caravaning with you amazing humans.

— Can I still get entries for the prize drawing giveaway?

Heck yeah. Here’s a list of ways to do so. And to highlight a few, double your entries by becoming a paid Caravaner, triple your entries by lending the Caravan your voice, or get five entries at once by becoming a Caravan patron / founding member!

— What are these prizes anyway?

Check out this list.

— Do I have to attend to get my prize?

No—with the exception of one final super prize. All other prizes will be sent by email to the winner. But/and we want you there!

✨ On June 4, 5, & 6

Join for Big Feels: How to Write (Well) about Tough Stuff (w/Marya) 😊😳😡😭🥰

A weekend on writing about painful subjects—how to strike a careful balance to avoid the personal toll writing tough stuff can take and remain clear-eyed about literary quality and craft.

• Dates: FRIDAY, JUNE 5, 4–6 pm PT / 7–9 pm ET, SATURDAY & SUNDAY, JUNE 6 & 7, 11 am–1 pm PT / 2–4 pm ET

• Price: $250*

• Payment link: Click here to purchase your seat.

*If you’re a paid or founding Caravan member, please request a discounted payment link.

Register for BIG FEELS

✨ On July 17, 18, & 19

Join for Self-Edit Like a Pro

A weekend filled w/guided exercises and pro strategies for taking our work from draft to publication ready? Bring a WIP or work with starts we’ll develop in session.

• Dates: FRIDAY, JULY 17, 4–6 pm PT / 7–9 pm ET, SATURDAY & SUNDAY, JULY 18 & 19, 11 am–1 pm PT / 2–4 pm ET

• Price: $250*

• Payment link: Click here to purchase your seat.

*If you’re a paid or founding Caravan member, please request a discounted payment link.

Register for SELF-EDIT

hey caravaners!

don’t know about you, but our week was…excessive. we shan’t speak of it again.

what we shall do is come hang out with you—the Caravan Crew.

who else needs a mental jumpstart, some good prompts, a couple of belly laughs, and a hit of undiluted good creative juju?

phew. us too.

join us tomorrow for the weekly Saturday Write-In, hosted by the famously judgy chihuahua-adjacent Luna Moonbat, who has hijacked ’s laptop.

Don’t miss it!

Here are the details:

• Saturday, May 23

• 9-10:30 am PT / 12-1:30 pm ET / 5-6:30 pm BST / 6-7:30 pm CET

• On this Zoom link

Join the Write-In

Can’t wait to write with you!

Beloved Caravaners!

We asked you to join us in a Caravan experiment—a large-scale, long-range, virtual version of the classic poetry parlor game (we bet non-writers hear a phrase like ‘classic poetry parlor game’ and think wow that sounds…less than scintillating)—and you generously obliged.

We thank you—and you killed it!

(oh ho ho ho we thought that was quite clever thanks folks we’ll be here all week)

For those of you who didn’t join us this time around, here’s what we did.

Exquisite Corpse (cadavre exquis) is a collaborative process of making a single work of art—sometimes a drawing, sometimes a story, often a poem—whose invention is credited to the French Surrealists of the 1920s. In the case of a written work, each participant writes a word, sentence, or line before passing it to the next, based on only a glimpse of the preceding contributions—in the case of a poem, a single line. The result is a surprising, sometimes surreal, often uncanny collective artwork.

And that’s exactly what you’ve written.

A word from fearless leader and Caravan Corpse Coordinator, :

Hi everyone...this is the poem that we as a collective composed over the past six weeks, starting during National Poetry Month. There has been some slight rearrangement due to variations in response time, so the order of authors’ response is, in one or two cases, slightly rearranged. In those cases I tried to err on the side of "best poetic flow" from one line to the next, where exact order of response could not be maintained. I am so honored to have conducted this experiment with each of you talented authors, and we should all be proud of this wonderful monster we have created!

Did you participate? Thank you! Share, tag us, tag yourselves if we missed your tag!1 Did you miss it this time? Share anyway, invite other writers, and let us know that you want to participate in the next round!

Share

Without further ado, we give you….

The Inaugural Caravan Community Exquisite Corpse.

Revolution/Requiem

The new revolution's first photons hurtled over the Eastern horizon.

Earth felt a tug at her core, like the crash of a nickel-iron wave breaking 
             against her hard belly, like a shiver of solar wind whooshing 
             north, like a warning

Every leaf on every tree shook, each blossom shimmered, while  
             earthworms wiggled into mouths of hungry birds, never    
             noticing the north solar wind whooshing.
 
"That is so goddamned Disney," I said to her. 
"You fell in love again, didn't you?"
 
The lay down always comes before the layoffs

The lowdown usually comes low and squeaks when done low

when they go low, we get high, high as dawn breaking down the doors of 
             darkness

we watch the shadows shriveling, fleeing; fling our hope to the trusted 
             wind, to soar and never sink

Below the knife edge of the mesa, the city of the night gives one final, 
             desperate, glitter and is flooded by the sun.

Try to catch your breath (or breadth) whilst drowning in abject amounts 
            of light and warmth

Sensation attends and width spreads from a place no direction ever 
            named.

hummingbird above finds improbable sweetness, surviving within what 
            remains.

unrotted--all those woozy wallflowers kissing with their eyes open 

people who haven’t decayed, but also haven’t lived: performing 
            closeness with fingers crossed  

and, still, cities clothed in mantles of fear fade to bloodied dust, no 
             questions, no luck 

no hope, only dire destitution.  

should’ve started out by telling you you’d be one step behind  

forever changed, never quite fully human. 

I tend the quiet galaxies buried in my marrow 

Black hole this failed human science experiment 
I do not hope to see the light of tomorrow

I hope instead for darkness—
A mystical darkness like the ocean’s depth

from which monster creatures swim secretly, silently, sensually 
             smoothing the path to ever deeper depths. 

The cool waters lick my toes, gentle, a caress of none-too-subtle danger 

One step further and the world disappears under me, if I allow it I am 
             taken out of sense 

Do I dare? Some waters are always meant to stir your fears. 

Fear lifts its face to meet my gaze, glowing like an underwater moon. 

Hey Caravaners!

Happy first day of the rest of your WRITING WEEK. How’s it look? You got time to put a few words on the page?

Heck yeah, you do.

And if that’s all the time you can find to write between now and the next free Saturday Write-In, then that’s the time you give it! In fact, that’s why we gather in the virtual Writing Room each Saturday: it keeps us accountable, keeps us in community, and keeps that creative fire going all week long.

And dang, does that room packed full of incredible writers ever spark some incredible writing. Put that recurring event in your calendar and join us this Saturday—and all the rest!

As May flowers bring hay fever from HELL bloom, the Caravan Crew is cooking up its late-spring and early-summer shenanigans, and we want you to be a part of them.

Here’s what’s on tap.

Still ahead in May…

Have you written your Snake Take?

The responses to this month’s Community Prompt are slithering in, and they are great.

And would you look at that? It’s only Monday—you’ve got a whole WRITING WEEK ahead of you to see where this one leads!

So siddown, crack your knuckles, and write your take on snakes.

Need some inspo? Here’s ’s snake take to get you started, and look for ’s this Friday.

If you’ve already posted yours, let the community by linking your post in the comments below! If you haven’t yet, be sure to tag us when you do! As always, we’ll publish a roundup of the whole Caravan Community’s responses in June. (That’s the best part —and the whole point.)

And btw…

Have you reserved a spot in Holly Starley’s Self-Edit Like a Pro?

Hop to it!

We have an idea, a draft, a story. What next? How do we go from draft to publication ready? In Self-Edit Like a Pro, we’ll use guided exercises and strategies used by professional editors, practice skills that will enable you to shape your writing from starts to polished works. Bring a WIP or work with starts we’ll develop in session.

Sharing the tools she developed over a 20-year editing career for shaping your work through drafts and getting it publication-ready is one of Holly’s favorite writing adjacent things to do! It’s the satisfaction of sharing a pole and bait and tips instead of a fish. 🎣🐠

Reserve a seat and help decide what weekend the bootcamp will run!

Oh AND…

Keep an eye out for the results of the EXQUISITE CORPSE EXPERIMENT this week!

In June…

Our next bootcamp is right around the corner! If you haven’t registered yet, hie thee to

Big Feels: How to Write (Well) about Tough Stuff (w/Marya) 😊😳😡😭🥰

• Dates: FRIDAY, JUNE 4, 4–6 pm PT / 7–9 pm ET, SATURDAY & SUNDAY, JUNE 6 & 7, 11 am–1 pm PT / 2–4 pm ET

• Price: $250*

• Payment link: Click here to purchase your seat.

*If you’re a paid or founding Caravan member, please request a discounted payment link.

Not every story has to be about the hard times in our lives - but some of the important ones are. Writing about tough stuff can take a personal toll on the writer, and difficult subject matter sometimes keeps us from being as clear-eyed about literary quality and craft as we want to be. This weekend we’ll work on striking the careful balance, both personal and creative, that writing about painful subjects requires.

Register for BIG FEELS

Also in June…

we’ll be announcing course offerings for Season Four!

Yup, the Caravan is about to turn ONE! We can hardly believe it ourselves, and of course—party animals that we frankly are—we knew this called for a celebration.

Which brings us to July…

SAVE THE DATE!

Saturday, JULY 11—

Join us for the Caravan Birthday Celebration!

Yeah, yeah, we’ll be one and a month at that point, but Caravaners be caravanning. We’ve got a dozen deadlines, a couple of bootcamps, coaching, editing, a month’s worth of weekly Write-Ins to host, some good old fashioned writing to do, and a whopping 12 states to cover between us in the month of June—so we party in July.

We’ll have our Season 3 Wrap-Up Reading…

and the prize drawing giveaway for our Grow to Roll Campaign (with one prize you have to be there to receive)…

and some Early Bird discounts!

So come help us celebrate the creative, inspiring, amazing Caravan Community you—and we—have become.

But at the end of the journey, we are all in fact networkers.

I do want to beging the process…similar to gathering interested parties for our upcoming Exquisite Corpse experiment…so that Caravaners of all stripes and coats, who want feel connected to the larger community, can have a centralized location to reach out to one another…if indeed they want to be part of said community (we are nothing if not about consent around here).

So please join in at the write-in if this sounds like something you want to get in on…and then we’ll get to forging our words for the day.

Caravan Saturday Write In

WHAT’S COMING UP AT CARAVAN? GLAD YOU ASKED!

Big Feels: How to Write (Well) about Tough Stuff

The first weekend of June (Friday, June 5 , 3-5 pm PT / 6-8 pm ET; Saturday & Sunday, June 6 & 7, 11-1 am / 2-5 pm) for a generative, inclusive weekend on being clear-eyed about literary quality and craft while writing difficult material and striking the careful balance—both personal and creative—that doing so requires. 😊😳😡😭🥰

REGISTER FOR BIG FEELS

Self-Edit Like a Pro

On a weekend TBD. Wanna join and vote for which weekend works best?

POLL

When should we schedule Self-Edit Like a Pro?

The last weekend in May

The last weekend in June

4 VOTES · · SHOW RESULTS

A weekend of guided exercises and strategies used by professional editors and practicing skills that will enable you to shape your writing from starts to polished works ready for publication. Bring a WIP, or work with starts we’ll develop in session.

REGISTER FOR SELF-EDIT LIKE A PRO

Join Caravan—the collective that creates together!!

You could not be blamed, my dear Caravaners, for thinking we are celebrating Halloween early around here what with snakes and exquisite corpses taking control of the wheel here in May (but just wait till October ha ha.)

We’re still gathering up snake stories and response lines to our group poem, but those will be getting their post times later this month.

Also coming up later this month?

OUR SUMMER CLASS SCHEDULE! You’ll get a chance to reserve a spot for your favorite ones later this month as well, including the returns of “Submission Sweatshop,” “Give a Shit,” “Get Out of Your Own Way,” “The Past is Never Past,” “Art of the Chapbook,” “Get Weird,” “Poetry w/o Borders (Monday nights)” as well as “Memoir” (long time favorite) and “From The Road.”

Stay tuned for announcements here shortly, but I’ll also be announcing a voluntary contact list for Caravan members this Saturday at the Write-In, so that Caravan members can connect more easily with each other! All you need to do is show up Saturday morning at 12 Eastern/9 Pacific right here:

Saturday Write In

Aaaand good Monday morning Caravaners, this is Paul, your facilitator for the great Caravan Writers Exquisite Corpse reporting that WE ARE ALMOST DONE with the poetry experiment we began last month during NaPoMo (National Poetry Month) and we have less than five respondents to go before the poem is finished! This wound up taking longer than I thought it would, so when we do it again, we’ll have a better notion of WHEN to begin the experiment and get it finished in a much more efficient manner.

The upshot is that we will have the poem for everyone to read before this month is over (hopefully in time for the weekend write in!) and that everyone who has participated gets another entry in the grand drawing for heavily discounted and free workshops coming up for the rest of the year.

Workshops and classes you ask? Why yes! For example:

Big Feels: How to Write (Well) about Tough Stuff

The first weekend of June (Friday, June 5 , 3-5 pm PT / 6-8 pm ET; Saturday & Sunday, June 6 & 7, 11-1 am / 2-5 pm) for a generative, inclusive weekend on being clear-eyed about literary quality and craft while writing difficult material and striking the careful balance—both personal and creative—that doing so requires. 😊😳😡😭🥰

REGISTER FOR BIG FEELS

Self-Edit Like a Pro

On a weekend TBD. Wanna join and vote for which weekend works best?

A weekend of guided exercises and strategies used by professional editors and practicing skills that will enable you to shape your writing from starts to polished works ready for publication. Bring a WIP, or work with starts we’ll develop in session.

REGISTER FOR SELF-EDIT LIKE A PRO

Has the week flown? 🪽

Have you had enough time to write?

Are you brimming with truth you want to speak to power?

Aching to spill joy and beauty, landscape and connection onto the page?

Feeling your fingers itching with rage, hope, sorrow, delight?

Hungry to hitch onto your curiosity and go wherever it leads?

Whatever it is—

Let’s write about it together!!

Join us for our regular Saturday Write-In tomorrow—hosted by . We’ll decide on a theme together.

Don’t miss it!

Here are the details:

• Saturday, May 9

• 9-10:30 am PT / 12-1:30 pm ET / 5-6:30 pm BST / 6-7:30 pm CET

• On this Zoom link

Join the Write-In

Can’t wait to write with you!

+ The prize drawing we’ve been teasing is just around the corner, along with the Caravan’s first birthday. 🥳🎈🎉 And we’re calling for your recorded testimonials! Send us an audio or video review of the Caravan; get three prize drawing entries!

++ So, too is ’s bootcamp—Big Feels: How to Write (Well) about Tough Stuff—on our doorstep (the first weekend of June).

Don’t miss it!

REGISTER FOR BIG FEELS

+++ Our next bootcamp will be scheduled soon.

To get in on Holly Starley’s Self-Edit Like a Pro and weigh in on getting it on the calendar, sign up or email Holly.

RESERVE A SEAT IN SELF-EDIT LIKE A PRO

Hi Crew!!

One final push for the Grow to Roll campaign.

We’d love to hear how you feel about the Caravan

And share those testimonials far and wide.

🌜Recently, we’ve been reminded of the power of video and audio. And we know some of you love the Caravan as much as we do. We’re honored and humbled by that and over-the-moon grateful for you.🌛

So, if it’s in your wheelhouse,

And you’ve loved and learned from the Caravan offerings—

the Write-Ins

the Craft Campfires

the gatherings and readings

the camaraderie

the brilliance

the way we elevate and bask in each other’s words and work

a specific workshop or bootcamp or multiple courses

working with any of us one-on-one—

🎥🎙️ Please send us a short recording—video or audio. 🎙️🎥

We’ll turn them into testimonials to recruit more brilliant voices to hitch their wagons to all of ours.

Cuz we’re stronger together.

EMAIL US A RECORDED CARAVAN TESTIMONIAL

Any video or audio gets you THREE ENTRIES in the prize drawing giveaway.

That’ll happen at a gathering next month to close out Caravan Writers Collective season 3 and celebrate the Caravan’s first birthday!! (You don’t need to be present to claim your prize, though, of course, we’d LOVE to have you there.) Stay tuned for details.

And yes, if you sent in a written review, you can absolutely read or paraphrase that same testimonial and get three additional prize drawing entries!

EMAIL US A RECORDED CARAVAN TESTIMONIAL

And no, it’s not too late to get in on the drive and support the Caravan + get entries to the prize drawing giveaway in other ways. All the ways to participate.

PARTICIPATE IN THE DRIVE & ENTER TO WIN

+ Did you hear?

😊😳😡😭🥰 A fantastic bootcamp, led by NYT bestseller is afoot.

Join Big Feels: How to Write (Well) about Tough Stuff

the first weekend of June (Friday, June 5 , 3-5 pm PT / 6-8 pm ET; Saturday & Sunday, June 6 & 7, 11-1 am / 2-5 pm) for a generative, inclusive weekend on being clear-eyed about literary quality and craft while writing difficult material and striking the careful balance—both personal and creative—that doing so requires. 😊😳😡😭🥰

REGISTER FOR BIG FEELS

Our next bootcamp, to be scheduled soon, is ’s Self-Edit Like a Pro. Sign up to secure a seat or email Holly to reserve a spot. Be part of the scheduling decision. either way.

Finally, don’t forget to join in our latest Community Writing Prompt—

SNAKE TAKE

We were working some property
along the upper Mad River when
Dan shot the rattlesnake with the
.38 caliber 1903 police pistol
I inherited from my father, who 
inherited it from my grandfather.

Proud of killing that rattlesnake, he
gutted and skinned it, prepared it
for us to eat. First he cut it into 
slices, then pressure cooked those 
because he said the meat would be 
too tough to eat otherwise. He
dredged the tenderized pieces 
in flour and herbs, dipped them in
hot sauce, then again in flour before 
deep frying them. They were tender
and delicious and yes, they tasted
just like chicken, fried chicken.

After tanning it, Donna made the skin
into a band for Dan's hat, with the snake 
biting itself; Rattlesnake ouroboros. 
Dan wore that hat for years, always 
happy to share the story of how 
he got that snakeskin hatband.

begun 05/04/2026
Santa Rosa, CA
on a prompt from 
Caravan Writers Collective

Who wants to write together?

We do! And, by that, we mean we want to write with YOU!

Here’s how it went. One of us was sitting at a writing desk, looking at a blank page, and thinking about how snakes had been in the news of late. This, as it does, led to some serpentine thoughts and sidewinding creation. And said writer thought, What would make this better? Writing about all things snake with the Caravan! A text message went out and voilà—

The next Community Writing Project was born.

Please join us and share your

Snake Take

How can you participate?

It’s simple.

Write to the prompt—in whatever form and wherever it leads. Post it or share it wherever you share your work. Tag us.

Sometime next month, we’ll gather all the work “submitted” and share it in a post here.

To get us started

Check out “One Woman’s Slow Shedding,” by Holly Starley. And keep your eyes peeled for variations on a snake from Marya Hornbacher and and (we’re hoping to get him in on this) Caravan’s fourth cofounder !

+ Don’t miss your chance to get in on Big Feels

😊😳😡😭🥰 This fabulous bootcamp, Big Feels: How to Write (Well) about Tough Stuff, is the first weekend of June.

And it will be a FANTASTIC generative, inclusive weekend.

Not every story has to be about the hard times in our lives - but some of the important ones are. Writing about tough stuff can take a personal toll on the writer, and difficult subject matter sometimes keeps us from being as clear-eyed about literary quality and craft as we want to be. This weekend we’ll work on striking the careful balance, both personal and creative, that writing about painful subjects requires.

—Friday, June 5 , 3-5 pm PT / 6-8 pm ET; Saturday & Sunday, June 6 & 7, 11-1 am / 2-5 pm😊😳😡😭🥰

REGISTER FOR BIG FEELS

Paid and founding members, expect your discount link shortly.

Our Help Us Keep Growing So We Can Keep Rolling campaign is nearing an end.

First, thank you so much to all who’ve joined in.

Second, it’s not too late to get in on the drive and support the Caravan + get entries to the prize drawing giveaway. All the ways to participate.

PARTICIPATE IN THE DRIVE & ENTER TO WIN

Which reminds us. Pssst …

Celebration plans are afoot!

Think a big gathering. Think a live reading. Think prize drawings. Think extra surprises. Cuz not only is the drive winding down, but also, guess who’s having a birthday?!?!

That’s right, the Caravan turns 1 next month.

Stay tuned for details.

Hi Caravan…this is Paul…sorry, I was off on an organizing adventure for a couple of weeks there and hopefully I won’t be detained in such a manner for another year or so, but I just wanted to let everyone know I am so very pleased to be back and have BIG PLANS FOR THE SATURDAY MORNING WRITE IN:

We’re gonna get emotional, we’re gonna get introspective, we’re gonna…do those things we always do at the Saturday morning write in…fyi, I’m going to bringing in inspirations from the Dictionary of Obsure Sorrows which is sooooo much fun to play with and honestly if you don’t have a copy yet…well, why not?

• Saturday, April 25

• 9-10:30 am PT / 12-1:30 pm ET / 5-6:30 pm BST / 6-7:30 pm CET

• On this Zoom link

Join the Write-In

Can’t wait to write with you!

Tis the season for hatching, bursting, blooming, and stuff starting to stir - including new drafts, new directions, and new work.

Caravan co-founder reminded us the other day of the fact that in Stephen King’s craft book/memoir On Writing, the famously prolific author says he tries to knock out his drafts in the space of a season—and we think that’s a heck of a plan.

As some folks we know head into the home stretch of poem-a-day writing marathons in honor of National Poetry Month, as the school year (for all those who practice) bends toward a close, and as the Caravan crew starts loading in and heading out on our next respective quests, we’d love to hear from you about what you’d like your next season of writing to hold and how the Caravan community can help.

We’re noodling with some new ideas for spring and summer, so please comment or shoot us an email with your wish list for Caravan classes, events, and offerings. We’ve gotten several requests for offerings that focus on memoir as well as for strategies to help writers get out of our own way. Both sound great to us. Interested? Let us know so we can add those offerings to the Registration List!

In the meantime…

Quick! Register for this weekend’s

Get Weird: Write Your Way out of a Rut & into Your Best Work with Hermit Crabs & Beyond (w/Holly)

This weekend is about experimentation. We'll be mixing it up with new approaches to form, structure, voice, and tense to get the words flowing and create work we didn’t even know we had in us.

• Dates: FRIDAY, APRIL 24, 3–5 pm PT / 6–8 pm ET, SATURDAY & SUNDAY, APRIL 25 & APRIL 26, 11 am–1 pm PT / 2–4 pm ET

• Price: $250*

• Payment link: Click here to reserve your seat.*

*If you’re a paid or founding Caravan member, please request a discounted payment link.

And on deck…

Big Feels: How to Write (Well) about Tough Stuff (w/Marya)

A weekend packed with everything you need to know about writing difficult topics!

Not every story has to be about the hard times in our lives - but some of the important ones are. Writing about tough stuff can take a personal toll on the writer, and difficult subject matter sometimes keeps us from being as clear-eyed about literary quality and craft as we want to be. This weekend we’ll work on striking the careful balance, both personal and creative, that writing about painful subjects requires.

• Dates: FRIDAY, JUNE 4, 4–6 pm PT / 7–9 pm ET, SATURDAY & SUNDAY, JUNE 6 & 7, 11 am–1 pm PT / 2–4 pm ET

• Price: $250*

• Payment link: Click here to purchase your seat.

*If you’re a paid or founding Caravan member, please request a discounted payment link.

And …

in addition to the bootcamps we’ve already got on the calendar—more on those below—we’re almost ready to schedule a few more, including

• Holly’s 3-week course Self-Edit like a Pro: How to Take Your Writing from Draft to Publication-Ready

and

• Marya’s weekend bootcamp Comedy = Tragedy + Time: How to Write Funny & True.

Want to get in on those courses (and others)? Reserve your spot so we can get them scheduled!

Reserve your seat in a class!

A quick reminder that our Grow to Roll Campaign has some great opportunities for you to help us keep this show on the road, including 20% off paid subscriptions. From now until the end of the month, you can upgrade your subscription—and get all the benefits, including 25% off all classes, bootcamps, and craft talks—for just $40/year (you’ll save more than that the first time you use your discount, for reference).

Get 20% off for 1 year

Got questions? Hit us up! contact@caravanwriterscollective.com.

Please hit those little heart and restack buttons and help more writers hitch their wagons to the Caravan!

Beloved Caravan Crew!

Peeling up a little behind schedule this week because hoooo boy, has travel ever had us all over the map. But it sure hasn’t dampened our spirits, nor has it changed the fact that we have some amazing spring bootcamps coming your way — plus a couple little treats. Read on!

Register for Holly’s next bootcamp THIS WEEKEND, April 24-26.

Get Weird: Write Your Way out of a Rut & into Your Best Work with Hermit Crabs & Beyond (w/Holly)

As writers, we can get stuck in a rut. And sometimes, the blank page stares, and all we can do is stare back. This weekend is about experimentation—new possibilities, new shells. Yes, we’re talking hermit crabs. Here too, we practice genre-bending and mixing it up with form, structure, voice, and tense to open us up, get the work flowing, and create work we didn’t even know we had in us.

• Dates: FRIDAY, APRIL 24, 3–5 pm PT / 6–8 pm ET, SATURDAY & SUNDAY, APRIL 25 & APRIL 26, 11 am–1 pm PT / 2–4 pm ET

• Price: $250*

• Payment link: Click here to reserve your seat. You’ll receive a Zoom link and the readings we’ll look at earlier that week. Read them ahead of time if you’d like. But know we’ll read them together in class. So no worries whatsoever if you don’t get a chance to look them over beforehand.*

Register for GET WEIRD!

*If you’re a paid or founding Caravan member, please request a discounted payment link.

Still Growing to Keep Rolling…

Just 10 more days of April, which means you’ve got 10 more days to pitch in and get involved with Caravan’s Grow to Roll Campaign!

Our huge and heartfelt thanks go out to all who have generously thrown their shoulders and support into building the Caravan Scholarship Fund by donating and/or becoming paid and founding subscribers. Your support means the world to us—and it also means we’re able to get classes scheduled and provide sponsored seats to writers who aren’t able to pay full price. Thank you!

There’s still plenty of time—and a bunch of ways!—to support your fellow writers and show this community some love.

Pitch in to the Scholarship Fund

Give Caravan a review or testimonial

And don’t forget—help get more Caravan courses and bootcamps on the calendar by reserving your spot in the ones you want to take!

Reserve your spot in an upcoming class

Finally, for the home stretch of April and our Grow to Roll Campaign, we’re sweetening the deal on paid subscriptions. From now until the end of the month, you can upgrade your subscription—and get all the benefits, including 25% off all classes, bootcamps, and craft talks—for just $40/year (you’ll save more than that the first time you use your discount, for reference).

Get 20% off for 1 year

Got questions? Hit us up! contact@caravanwriterscollective.com.

Please hit those little heart and restack buttons and help more writers hitch their wagons to the Caravan!

Share

Write with us tomorrow!

Fav prompts, sweet samples, and following the unexpected are on the agenda for this week’s write-in, hosted by . And we’d LOVE to see you there.

Join us! Here’s the deets …

• Saturday, April 18

• 9-10:30 am PT / 12-1:30 pm ET / 5-6:30 pm BST / 6-7:30 pm CET

• On this Zoom link

Join the Write-In

Can’t wait to write with you!

Plus, please enjoy a few fantastic samples from last week’s write-in.

At the end of every write-in, those of us who feel called to share a bit of what we’ve written.

And the joy is palpable.

You have to be there to understand how wonderful it is

To bask in what we writers have brought to life within that collective creative box we share each week.

So without further ado, three samples from last week’s write-in participants.

~~~

LOSING THE PLOT

by

After dark, the cars race across the bridge like it’s a speedway, 1,590 feet of straightaway on

the new bridge spanning the Missouri River called Discovery after Lewis & Clark because they

stomped all over the place round about here some 220 years ago (134 businesses named after

Lewis & Clark in Yankton, SD alone) here being Yankton, SoDak, the bridge three blocks away

from your sister’s house, aggressive aftermarket muffler drag racing that woke you up, now

you’re staring at the ceiling fan whooshing your breath back into your mouth

then the hot rod sounds stop abruptly

and every person, every runaway drunk high schooler, every high and broke 32-year-old

fopdoodle bro dating a runaway drunk high schooler stopped their cars and got out, walked off

the slope of the bridge to the bank of the Missouri and walked into the river that only went up

to their knees

and the river said white is the word in the black night

those humid high school evenings of your own that turned into sticky, staticky nights,

back before we discovered who we might become – I’m still waiting – it’s mid-March now but

very warm in Yankton, 79 degrees, no crickets yet, the 40 tulip bulbs your sister planted last fall

starting to poke their green shoots from the soil into the sun’s false spring

and you looked at your phone, 3:15 AM and that’s too early to be writing this, hungover

from meds and general lack of sleep

and these were the last days of your father’s life, 30 years ago, the blizzard just starting,

you were happy to be home that last night even though full of mono

the virus, not the single-channel radio static that you searched the dial middle of the

night to find a station, some human voice telling you it will be all be okay

just wait

when you were seven years old, on your bedroom wall after goodnight you saw three

people, a family of shadows like cutouts from black construction paper, four feet high, very

sharp shadows, round heads and a long upside down triangular body

and they were there on the wall, the shadow family, but no light source throwing them

up there, your father tucked you and your sister into bed and closed the door, TV muffled in the

other room

your sister there in the other bed not sleeping either but you never told her about the

people on the wall, they were not fuzzy-bordered like usual shadows but strikingly in-focus

your family already suspected you were losing the plot so you didn’t tell a soul

they moved, the people – there was a father, a mother, and a child – you knew this

somehow – they glided along the wall, back and forth, just a few feet to the right then to the

left, just enough to make you hypervigilant and sleepless

a prayer stretched taut in your throat

but hang on, why now is the shadow-family projected on the wall of your sister’s house after 50

years of occasional remembrances, and why did it just barge into the metaphor you were

making about the dragstrip of the bridge? and were you hallucinating even then when you were

seven? were things so bad that your brain made you part of this cutout-family that only had

one kid, disappearing your sister quietly so the fighting would stop

this was supposed to be about the bridge and the assholes in their souped-up cars

racing across its 1,590 feet of straightaway and that waking you up in the dead of night and

somehow your father’s in here too

but you can’t find him for all the din this narration makes

Find more of Paula’s work at Dear Catastrophe Witness.

I sit at my desk

by

I sit at my desk

and watch the sun

dance between gaps in the leaves,

casting shadows on the sisal floor.

A candle burns

because it’s good

to have light in the world

where I can see it.

Is it strange to light a candle in the sunshine?

I should ask.

On the internet.

Where capital Truth

is lying

in wait

to fill the spaces in my brain

with someone else’s thoughts

and confident dysfunctions. When I was very young

I’d climb inside my mind

to rest.

But god, it’s busy.

Grand central station

for corporate fears

I bought for free

and I didn’t even notice at the checkout.

Check out.

I should check out!

A quick, soothing hit.

The world feels untethered

And life feels abrupt

but strangers

and robots

Will make it all better.

I hope I have attention left to sell

I’m running low.

What’s that experiment

with the rats

and cheese

or maybe it was blow?

and the tiny little shocks?

There were rats behind my wall this week

And god

it was divine

to have a problem

I could touch.

Follow Aoife at .

Mundane days

by

One of these days I’m gonna wake up out of this bed without sleeping in my clothes from the day before and hearing the dog barking for me to go downstairs to feed her. One of these days I’m not going to hear the slamming of the oblivious door of my husband leaving to go to work. One of these days I won’t be procrastination personified putting off the simplest of tasks and feeling guilty about not being a better human. One of these days I will eventually get all these poems published in another book and off this godforsaken phone which never fails to leave my hand or face. It has become an indispensable tool; a secretary keeping my thoughts in order. It tries to keep dates straight but fails. That could be user error. It tries to keep me informed of all the atrocities of man as well as the real untold history of how we got here. It’s evil yet familiar in the way it makes promises that it has no intention of keeping. Ooops text coming in stating that my mother tried to give her financials to another scammer. The scammers who persistently call with criminal intent to convince her to send them a money order. They lie indiscriminately but convincingly saying they were friends of her deceased husband. Informed of the latest dementia related act, her caregiver lamented that mom did give them her information when she was not there to stop her. The sick feeling in my stomach that I’m not a better daughter and one day the same thing could happen to me. Pause. Oh look something shiny! Incoming IG reel sent to me by another poet friend of the blindfolded dancing girls with pages from Epstein files written on their chests moving with protest in front of the Kennedy/ renamed Trump center for performing arts. The nagging thoughts of guilt for not getting out of bed return.

Find Terri’s work at Tripped on Stones.

Marya’s next bootcamp is coming soooon!*

And you DON’T want to miss this one.

— What is it?

Big Feels: How to Write (Well) about Tough Stuff

A weekend packed with everything you need to know about writing difficult topics!

Not every story has to be about the hard times in our lives - but some of the important ones are. Writing about tough stuff can take a personal toll on the writer, and difficult subject matter sometimes keeps us from being as clear-eyed about literary quality and craft as we want to be. This weekend we’ll work on striking the careful balance, both personal and creative, that writing about painful subjects requires.

— When is it?

We want to know

When do you want it to be?

Choose one: Three days, 2 hours each day—either the third weekend in May or the first weekend in June.

*Please vote! Especially those who’ve already reserved a seat. And of course anyone who’s ready to join now.

— How can you get a seat in Big Feels?

REGISTER FOR BIG FEELS

Click to pay if you’ve already reserved a spot. Paid and founding members, you’ll get discount links to register shortly.

And as you likely already know

Our Grow to Roll drive is going strong.

Wanna get in on it?

Help us Grow?

Win a Prize?

Check out

All the ways to get in on Grow to Roll

We write for and to and with each other.

And we show up for each other!!

This week, as part of our Help Us Keep Growing so We Can Keep Rolling drive, we ask anyone who can to contribute any amount they can to the

Caravan Writers Collective Scholarship Fund

As a thank you, you’ll get an entry into our Grow to Roll Prize Drawing Giveaway for every $25 donated.

DONATE TO THE SCHOLARSHIP FUND

Please put “scholarship” in the message and include your email address.

The prizes include

— A spot in the course of your choosing

— A 1:1 writing coaching session with one of the Caravan instructors

— A comped annual membership with all the bennies

— The surprise prize

You can also enter by

RESERVING A COURSE

WRITING OR RECORDING A REVIEW

BECOMING A CARAVAN PATRON

Pssst. Founding/patron memberships are only $200 (regularly $250) throughout the drive. And along with supporting the Caravan’s efforts to build community, write as resistance, and provide affordable, craft-based writing instruction for writers at all levels, you get a 25% discount on all Caravan offerings AND a seat at all Caravan Craft campfires all year round.

DONATE TO THE SCHOLARSHIP FUND

Hey writers,

This week’s Write-In is all about unexpected connections, random resonances, and flying leaps—and, of course, it’s about tapping into the great vibes we get when we gather to write. ( and) Luna Moonbat will lead the way!

Join us! Here’s the deets…

• Saturday, April 11

• 9-10:30 am PT / 12-1:30 pm ET / 5-6:30 pm BST / 6-7:30 pm CET

• On this Zoom link

Join the Write-In

Can’t wait to write with you!

QUICK GUIDELINES FOR THE CARAVAN EXQUISITE CORPSE EXPERIMENT