Write-ins are live sessions where participants gather to write independently, together. Juniper staff—students in the UMass MFA for Poets and Writers—share generative prompts and multimedia inspiration, as well as help participants troubleshoot, share, brainstorm together, and build community in the creative process.
During Juniper's summer programs, participants receive one Write-alongs each day, for a total of five self-guided writing sessions.
Write-ins are offered during the Juniper Institute for Young Writers and Juniper Young Writers Online.
An example of one of the Write-ins from the 2022 winter program
Finding the Strange in the Mundane
Challenge:
Choose something in your writing space that you have not been paying attention to or may not have noticed (the pattern in the carpet, a sticker, a mark on the wall, a scuff on your fingernail, a paperclip, etc). Take some time to study this thing, making it the center of your attention. What do you notice about it? What new associations does this attention bring up for you? How does your attention transform this thing, the space, your writing?
Warm Up:
Choose an activity or task that you do every day, something small and maybe mundane, like brushing your teeth or writing in your journal. Take a minute to jot down notes about the sensory experience of this action and/or the sensations you associate with it. Think about smell, sight, sound, feel, and taste. Try to be specific!
10 Minute Prompt
In as much detail as you can, describe this action/activity you chose. Narrativize it, breaking it up into many small parts. Dramatize it by exaggerating the time it takes to complete this action or the significance of the action in your life or in the world. Describe this action in a way that elevates it out of the mundane.
30 Minute Prompt
Drawing from your description, begin writing a story or poem that connects the action or sensations you described to a larger idea, concept, or thought. Feel free to make large and surprising leaps! What does brushing your teeth have to do with the formation of the universe? How does the act of writing in your journal relate to the concept of love?