Plant Your Poetry Prompt Calendar - July

A month of prompts on the theme of FREEDOM, and a writing session to steer you into a flourishing writing life.

“Live in the sunshine. Swim in the sea. Drink the wild air.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

Disclaimer: I am so flabbergasted at the organic growth of your poetry by showing up to write every day.

Just when I think your poems can’t get any better, the imagery grows more vivid, your hearts open wider and deeper, your assonance and rhythm grow more impactful every month. It is so amazing to see the connections that you are forming and strengthening with each encouraging comment on eachother’s poems. I am so privileged and in awe of you.

I am so excited to share that the theme for July is Freedom. There is an air of frivolity in July, the seeds that we’ve planted have come to fruition and we pluck off that fruit and savor its sweet nectar. It is a time when our confidence and libido for life can be higher than other months and we may spend more time outdoors, meeting new people and steeping in aliveness.

July is all about taking a leap, daring to step into the unknown and following synchronicities. This can be about considering small and grand ways in which to cut the cords that tether us to monotony or a life that is no longer serving us. It is a chance to turn our face towards the sun and focus on what makes us glow. It’s also about laziness, sitting in a hammock and simply relishing in the summer afternoon sun with a good book. Why? Because it’s your life and it’s your choice. Isn’t that wonderful?

These prompts are intended to help you liberate whatever wants to fly, and lean into the wild child within you.

Are you ready to write with us? I think so! I hope you enjoy the prompts I’ve curated for you and our first writing session of July. May your poems offer limitless possibilities for freedom within your life and your writing practice.

For those that are new here, Plant Your Poetry on Substack is a follow on from my bestselling book Plant Your Poetry: 365 Poems and Prompts to Grow Your Writing Habit, which aims to support and gently guide readers and writers towards a flourishing writing life through daily prompts and poems.

If this is your first time writing with me or Plant Your Poetry, here are a few helpful tips on how to begin and how to keep going:

• Download and print out the monthly prompts available below. Stick them up somewhere you will see them often

• Look at the daily prompt earlyish and carry it around with you

• Set a timer for 10 minutes and write whatever wants to be written on that prompt, little to no editing as you go will give it an easier flow

• Don’t beat yourself up if you miss a day, love yourself back on track

• If you aren’t inspired by a particular prompt, use a different prompt that jumps out to you instead - there is no right or wrong way to do this

• Keep a special journal or dedicate a folder or notebook specifically for these prompts and poems to keep everything in one place

• Share your words where you can - you will be seen, encouraged and supported

• Nothing matters except the goal of writing for 10 minutes on the prompt today.

• If you are struggling, seek support and tell about it

• Write with a buddy, share the prompts between you, write on alternative days and send them to each other, or meet up to write where you can, accountability is your best friend

• Know that you deserve this and you are someone who can do this sort of thing.

A reminder for everyone: there is a subscriber only chat available where you can share your words daily as you write them, I will be posting a new thread today and at the beginning of each month and you can reply to the thread with your poems, that way they will be easy to find and others working their way through the prompts can offer their support and encouragement towards your beautiful lines of poetry. I will be reading every piece that is written and will highlight poems that resonate on the 1st of the next month.

Underneath the writing session below are downloadable and printable pages of the Plant Your Poetry Prompt Calendar so you may stick the prompts up somewhere in your sacred or creative space to write, meditate, or ponder on. It may feel satisfying to tick off the prompts as you go.

I’m so excited to go on this journey with you - let’s dive in!