📝 Weekly Prompt: The First Boundary
Plus! A free goal-setting workshop to start February strong.
We’ve shifted to a new rhythm at Writers’ Hour Magazine: one monthly contest theme, plus weekly companion prompts that offer different angles into that theme.
February’s contest theme is The Fence. Find the full details here.
📝 WEEKLY PROMPT
Someone encounters a boundary for the first time.
This week’s prompt asks you to stay close to the first moment a boundary becomes real. Think expansively about what that boundary could be—a security rope in a museum, a “staff only” door, a family code, a paywall, a dress code.
As you write, choose one boundary and build the scene around the approach. Who is doing the approaching, and what are they carrying into that moment: entitlement, fear, hunger, naïveté, grief, impatience. What do they expect will happen?
Let the boundary announce itself through the senses. Show us the sign, the texture, the sound, the pause. Show us who is watching, even if it is only the narrator watching themselves.
This weekly companion prompt is free and open to everyone. No submission required.
If you’re writing toward the February contest, consider this prompt one entry point into the theme.
Keep reading for news and announcements.
Happy writing!
The Writers’ Hour Magazine Team
NEWS & ANNOUNCEMENTS
🎟️ Free Live Events This Week
Join us on Monday, February 2 for Make February Your Month of Writing—a free, 1-hour goal-setting workshop for writers.
On Thursday, February 5 Michael Dean joins us for a Q&A Exploring The Ethics of AI in Writing.
✍️ Write with us daily at Writers’ Hour
Work on this week’s prompt at Writers’ Hour—our daily silent writing sprints. It’s the perfect environment to focus, share space with other writers, and make progress on your writing. Craving craft insights and a creative community? Explore Membership.
🔒 Enter the February Contest:
Paid subscribers and LWS members: Ready to submit your contest entry? Read more below.
If you’d like to enter this month, upgrade now—you’ll unlock the submission link instantly.