W.o.o.t.s.

Your Voice
by Megan Brevig from Lincoln High School
Published in the 2007-2008 WITS Anthology I Once Was Young and Strong (Available for purchase)
It’s the late night conversations,
When your voice is coming through the phone
That you sound soft, and dull, and tired.
Often lapsing into desolate silences
Shared only by those who have trapped the noise within their mouths
You [...]

Joanna Rose is the author of the award-winning novel Little Miss Strange, and has a new novel looking for a home. Her short story If Your Hands Would be Like That was recently published in Artisan Journal, and her essay Paisley Afternoon is in the new anthology Citadel of the Spirit, a celebration of Oregon’s [...]

Perspective on Others
by Martin Rich from Metropolitan Learning Center
Published in the 2007-2008 WITS Anthology I Once Was Young and Strong (Available for purchase)
Walking up to the corner of Ainsworth and MLK Avenue shows so many choices. Walgreens pharmacy, Safeway grocery, Starbucks coffee, and my favorite Popeye’s Cajun chicken and biscuits. One night I was in [...]

And we are back again for our weekly writing prompt. This being our second. Before we get started some guidelines should be established.
Guideline #1: I reserve the right to fix obvious spelling errors. For example, Thier = their. I’ll do my best to contact you should I need to make any changes along those lines.
Guideline [...]

The results the we received from Monday’s Writing Prompt were awesome. We had a total of 11 poems/prose sent in. You can read over all of the submissions by clicking here. Below are just three chosen at random. Thank you everybody who submitted something. Check back on Monday for a new writing prompt!
What I Got [...]

Photorealism
by Ruth Campbell from Grant High School
Published in the 2007-2008 WITS Anthology I Once Was Young and Strong (Available for purchase)
I found the picture in a magazine:
light poured into a silent hallway
from the many open, dusty doors
interrupting the shadows
on the doors across the hall.
As I carefully drew each shadow
the desolate dust became flooded with light,
and [...]

THE YOUNKIN-RIVERA PRIZES FOR YOUNG WRITERS AT SOUTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY CARBONDALE
A nationwide competition for creative writers aged 15-18. Entries accepted during the month of April in the genres of poetry and prose. Prize in each category: $250 and a full tuition scholarship to the 2009 Young Writers Workshop at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.
To enter in [...]

Each year Writers in the Schools publish an anthology of student work. We have been doing it since 2000. Here is a look back at the covers of our anthologies from the first four years.

If Only They Knew 2000-2001 Anthology

What There Was To Do In High School 2001-2002 Anthology

I Am the Voice Never Heard 2002-2003 [...]

Hate It or Love It
by Emaan Behboodi from Wilson High School
Published in the 2007-2008 WITS Anthology I Once Was Young and Strong (Available for purchase)
I despise that I never stop to try,
I adore how you give me a reason to live for,
I execrate that my heart…you desecrate,
I worship your every trait,
I shudder that everything I [...]

Welcome to the first Writing Prompt Monday! Each Monday we will post a simple writing prompt to help writers jump start the writing process. Write until you feel you have nothing else to write about. When you are done, send it to us via e-mail (witspdx@gmail.com) or simply reply in the comments section. While it [...]