DON’T WRITE ALONE

At Catapult, we believe there’s a better—or at least less lonely—way to write. Here you’ll find writing resources, advice, job and fellowship opportunities, prompts and craft talk, and more.

Writing Prompts

Cover Photo: Against a reddish pink background, we see the Chinese character for téng with bandaids covering it slightly on the top right and bottom left
Don’t Write Alone | Free Write
A Writing Prompt for Mandarin Speakers
Are you a bilingual writer? Try this prompt from Catapult instructor and poet Chen Chen.
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Chen Chen
Apr 05, 2021
Cover Photo: This image is a screenshot from Phoebe Bridgers' music video for "Kyoto." In this still, Phoebe is flying over a city at sunset wearing a shirt with a skeleton on it.
Don’t Write Alone | Free Write
Tell More Lies
Poems and stories are only two sorts of lies, but they’re the ones Steven Duong tells most often. Try out his writing exercise to generate new work.
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Steven Duong
Jan 03, 2022
Cover Photo: This photograph shows a giraffe looking at the camera with its tongue sticking out. It's a close-up picture, so we only see the bright blue sky and a giraffe head with its long neck peeking into the right corner of the frame.
Don’t Write Alone | Free Write
Writing In Between the Real and Unreal
Sanjena Sathian thinks the most interesting writing material comes from locating mystery in our own lives. Try out this writing exercise to write into that mystery.
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Sanjena Sathian
Jan 18, 2022

More Social Media Week

Try a Catapult Class
Catapult online classes: Lillian-Yvonne Bertram, Independent Study: Preparing Your MFA Application, Open-Genre, Independent Study
Online  |  Open-Genre  |  Independent Study
Independent Study: Preparing Your MFA Application
Lillian-Yvonne Bertram
Catapult online classes: Courtney Maum, Independent Study: The Book Deal Toolkit, Publishing, Independent Study
Online  |  Publishing  |  Independent Study
Independent Study: The Book Deal Toolkit
Courtney Maum
Catapult online classes: Carolyn Kellogg, 4-Week Fiction Seminar: Reading as a Critic, Fiction, Seminar
Online  |  Fiction  |  Seminar
4-Week Fiction Seminar: Reading as a Critic
Carolyn Kellogg
Catapult online classes: Hubert Adjei-Kontoh, 4 Weeks of Reading as Writers: The Black Expatriate Tradition, Fiction, Nonfiction, Reading Group
Online  |  Fiction, Nonfiction  |  Reading Group
4 Weeks of Reading as Writers: The Black Expatriate Tradition
Hubert Adjei-Kontoh
Catapult online classes: Gauri Awasthi, 5-Week Poetry Workshop: Decolonizing Poetry, Poetry, Workshop
Online  |  Poetry  |  Workshop
5-Week Poetry Workshop: Decolonizing Poetry
Gauri Awasthi
Catapult online classes: S. Brook Corfman, 5-Week Online Workshop: Understanding the Prose Poem, Poetry, Workshop
Online  |  Poetry  |  Workshop
5-Week Online Workshop: Understanding the Prose Poem
S. Brook Corfman
Catapult online classes: Megan Milks, 4 Weeks of Reading New Queer & Trans Lit as Writers, Fiction, Nonfiction, Reading Group
Online  |  Fiction, Nonfiction  |  Reading Group
4 Weeks of Reading New Queer & Trans Lit as Writers
Megan Milks
Catapult online classes: Danielle Lazarin, 2-Week Prose Seminar: Your Writing Practice Beyond Word Count & Workshop, Fiction, Nonfiction, Seminar
Online  |  Fiction, Nonfiction  |  Seminar
2-Week Prose Seminar: Your Writing Practice Beyond Word Count & Workshop
Danielle Lazarin


Where We Write

Cover Photo: part of a long wooden desk containing a black desktop computer, keyboard, speakers, clock, and coffee mug, with a black office chair set up in front of it

Where Vanessa Hua Writes

Vanessa Hua
Cover Photo: A bed with a pseudo-orientalist headboard stacked with comfy pillows, with a laptop at the foot of the bed

Writing at Home With My Parents, Who I’m Definitely Not Fictionalizing in My Novel

Mina Seçkin
Cover Photo: A photograph of the writer's kitchen table, with her laptop on top, and her golden retriever tucked into a corner behind her chair

Writing in the Kitchen, in the Presence of Those I Love Most

Nicole Chung

Conversations

Cover Photo: This header shows the cover of Matt Bell's craft book, REFUSE TO BE DONE, next to Matt's headshot.
Don’t Write Alone | Interviews
Matt Bell Is a Student (and Teacher) of Writing
In this interview, Ruth Joffre talks with Matt Bell about his new craft book ‘Refuse to Be Done,’ interactive storytelling, building a craft library, and more.
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Ruth Joffre
May 10, 2022
Cover Photo: On the left is the cover of Ada Limón's book. The cover is a light grey abstract painting. The book cover is set against a bright background of yellow flowers. On the right is a photograph of Limón at a wood table wearing a black shirt with yellow flowers.
Don’t Write Alone | Interviews
For Ada Limón, We’re All the Hurting Kind
In this interview, Eliza Harris speaks with Ada Limón about her new poetry collection, the failure of language, and finding the will to begin again.
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Eliza Harris
May 16, 2022
Cover Photo: On the left is the cover of Elamin Abdelmahmoud's book, Son of Elsewhere, which depicts an illustration of a road snaking into the distance. On the right is a portrait of Abdelmahmoud, who is sitting at a table with his head propped against his fist and is smiling at the camera.
Don’t Write Alone | Interviews
“I’m not very good at hating things”: A Conversation with Elamin Abdelmahmoud
The writer and podcaster discusses his new book ‘Son of Elsewhere,’ taking pop culture seriously, and not inviting his Twitter self to the writing party.
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Tajja Isen
May 17, 2022

Most Recent Essays

Catapult Books
Catapult  |  fiction
Best Debut Short Stories 2021: The PEN America Dau Prize edited by Yuka Igarashi and Sarah Lyn Rogers
Catapult  |  nonfiction
Craft in the Real World by Matthew Salesses
Catapult  |  Creative Writing  |  Criticism  |  Reference
Meander, Spiral, Explode: Design and Pattern in Narrative by Jane Alison
Catapult  |  anthology
A Map Is Only One Story: Twenty Writers on Immigration, Family, and the Meaning of Home
Catapult  |  nonfiction
Before and After the Book Deal by Courtney Maum