Prompt to Page: Recent Episodes
Jessamine County Public Library
Each month, a JCPL librarian interviews published writers who share their favorite writing prompts. Whether you're just getting started or have written for years, you'll find ideas and advice to inspire you and help you become a better writer. Brought to you in partnership with the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning.
For New York Times bestselling author David Arnold, reading with intention is a kind of writing prompt.
"I think the most important thing about reading a lot is letting yourself become a sponge and soak in the words and soak in the pacing and soak in the stories," he says.
"But...occasionally let's look at the mechanics of it, and what is it about this sentence or this paragraph or this book that I'm loving so much, and is there something there that I can intentionally be like, I love that. Let me see if I can apply that in my own writing."
David offers examples from three books he loves, discussing how these passages helped him try different techniques in his own writing.
Books David Discusses
- Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl
- Northern Spyby Flynn Berry
- The Memoirs of Stockholm Sven by Nathaniel Ian Miller
About David Arnold
David Arnold is the New York Times bestselling author ofMosquitoland, I Loved You in Another Life, The Electric Kingdom,Kids of Appetite, andThe Strange Fascinations of Noah Hypnotik.
He has won the Southern Book Prize and the Great Lakes Book Award, and was named a Publishers Weekly Flying Start for his debut. His books have been translated into over a dozen languages. He lives in Lexington, Kentucky, with his wife and son.
Learn more at davidarnoldbooks.com and follow him on Instagram @iamdavidarnold.
Ashley Blooms turned to writing prompts as “a way to reconnect” with her writing and “do some creative healing.”
She believes that writers can be hard on themselves and prefers to emphasize self-compassion in her writing practice. “I think that creativity grows much better if you are being gentle with it,” she says, “than if you are using shame or criticism….”
Listen to the episode for more tips and a prompt that will help bring a sense of play to your writing.
About Ashley Blooms
Ashley Blooms is the author of Where I Can’t Follow, which was named a Most Anticipated novel by Good Housekeeping, Gizmodo, and Tor.com, among others. Her debut novel, Every Bone a Prayer, was long-listed for the Crook’s Corner Book Prize.
She’s a graduate of the Clarion Writer’s Workshop and received her MFA as a John and Renee Grisham Fellow from the University of Mississippi. Her fiction has appeared in The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror, Fantasy & Science Fiction, and Strange Horizons, among others. Learn more at: ashleyblooms.com.
For our twentieth episode, Elizabeth Kilcoyne, author of Wake the Bones, discusses her own complicated relationship to writing prompts. She used to think she was "anti-prompt," but now she appreciates their help with what she calls "the sticky bits of literature."
In other words, she continues, "that part of your manuscript that you keep wanting to turn away from and keep wanting to turn away from and keep ignoring.... I feel like [writing prompts] are always the sort of saving grace that I go to, to move into the next phase of a draft."
Move into the next phase of your draft with help from Elizabeth's prompt.
About Elizabeth Kilcoyne
Elizabeth Kilcoyne is an author, playwright, and poet, born and raised in Kentucky. Her first novel, Wake the Bones, a YA Southern Gothic from Wednesday Books, is a finalist for the William C. Morris Debut Award, and received a starred review from both Publisher's Weekly and Kirkus, who described her as "a new standard-bearer in YA Horror." She currently lives in Lexington, Kentucky, where she gardens, serves on the organizational team for a local community vegetable market, and teaches writing.
Listen to Episode 14
For our fourteenth episode, we talk to Ellen Birkett Morris, author of Lost Girls. Ellen shares three writing prompts: a poetry prompt, a fiction prompt, and a food writing prompt.
Ellen began writing creatively when she was in her mid-thirties, and she encourages listeners to “embrace your identity as a writer. If you’re writing, you are a writer. You don’t have to feel intimidated or competitive or any of those things.”
About Ellen Birkett Morris
Ellen Birkett Morris is the author of Lost Girls, winner of the Pencraft Award, and finalist for the Clara Johnson, IAN and Best Book awards, and the poetry chapbooks Surrender and Abide. Her work has appeared in Antioch Review, Shenandoah, and South Carolina Review, among other journals. Morris received grants from the Elizabeth George Foundation and Kentucky Foundation for Women and a fellowship from the Kentucky Arts Council. She holds an MFA from Queens University-Charlotte.
Join the Prompt to Page Writing Group
Wednesday, Nov. 30, 6:00 p.m.
Spend time working on a cross-genre writing prompt, get feedback, and share writing and publishing tips with a supportive community of other writers. Open to all writing levels and genres (fiction, poetry, memoir, family stories, etc.).
Registration is required.
Submit
We’d love to see what you’re writing! Submit a response to one of Ellen’s prompts for a chance to have it read on a future episode of the podcast.
For our thirteenth episode, we talk to Sarah Combs, author of Breakfast Served Anytime and The Light Fantastic. Sarah shares her love of writing groups, reading "at whim" and a writing prompt that works for all levels and genres. If you're gearing up for National Novel Writing Month, you may find her prompt especially helpful.
"It can be pretty scary to have a blank page in front of you and hope to see a novel draft by the end," she says. "So maybe it makes things easier if you think of scenes as the building blocks of a novel. And if you create a scene one by one, then eventually you might have a novel."
About Sarah Combs
Sarah Combs is the author of the young adult novels Breakfast Served Anytimeand The Light Fantastic, both from Candlewick Press. She lives with her family in Lexington, where she leads writing workshops at the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning.
Join the Prompt to Page Writing Group
Wednesday, Oct. 26, 6:00 p.m.
Spend time working on a cross-genre writing prompt, get feedback, and share writing and publishing tips with a supportive community of other writers. Open to all writing levels and genres (fiction, poetry, memoir, family stories, etc.).
Registration is required.
Submit
We’d love to see what you’re writing! Submit a response to Sarah’s prompt for a chance to have it read on a future episode of the podcast.
For our twelfth episode, we talk to Shawn Pryor, author of the graphic novel series Cash and Carrie and a guest at this year’s Comic Surge. Shawn describes the collaborative process of writing graphic novels and shares three of his favorite prompts. He explains how he uses writing prompts both when he’s working on books and when he just wants to have fun.
Shawn believes that too many writers are under the impression that “if it’s not perfect off the jump, then it’s not going to work.” He says, “There is no such thing as perfection. None…. And you limit yourself if you think that perfection is the only way that you’re gonna be able to tell your story.”
About Shawn Pryor
Shawn Pryor’s (he/him) work includes the middle-grade graphic novel series Cash and Carrie, the 2019 Glyph Nominated sports graphic novel F.O.R.C.E., and several books for Capstone’s Jake Maddox Sports and Adventure prose series, and Kids Sports Stories children’s books. Currently, he’s the writer of the hi-lo reader series The Gamer with illustrator Francesca Ficorilli and the upcoming middle-grade graphic novel Fast Break with illustrator Courtney Hahn.
In his free time, he enjoys reading, cooking, listening to streaming music playlists, and talking about why Zack from the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers is the greatest Black superhero of all time.
He is represented by Kelly Sonnack of the Andrea Brown Literary Agency.
Join the Prompt to Page Writing Group
Wednesday, Sept. 28, 6:00 p.m.
Spend time working on a cross-genre writing prompt, get feedback, and share writing and publishing tips with a supportive community of other writers. Open to all writing levels and genres (fiction, poetry, memoir, family stories, etc.).
Registration is required.
Submit
We’d love to see what you’re writing! Submit a response to one of Shawn’s prompts for a chance to have it read on a future episode of the podcast.
For our eleventh episode, we talk to Claudia Love Mair, author and coordinator of the Carnegie Center’s Kentucky Black Writers Collaborative. Claudia Love discusses the importance of names in her life and shares a prompt that will make you see your own name—and yourself—in a new way.
Claudia Love advises all writers to “stay open. All around you are [writing] prompts. There are prompts in the trees and in the clouds and in your mother’s face. So, don’t look at prompts as only being, you know, words on paper or something that you get at a workshop, something in the books. There are prompts all around you. Take advantage and keep writing.”
About Claudia Love Mair
Claudia Love Mair is the author of eleven books, including a memoir, Don’t You Fall Now, a biography, and eight novels. She holds an MFA in Writing from Spalding University, and is the coordinator for the Carnegie Center’s Kentucky Black Writers Collaborative. She lives and works in Lexington, Kentucky.
Join the Prompt to Page Writing Group
Wednesday, July 27, 6:00 p.m.
Spend time working on a writing prompt adapted from the Prompt to Page podcast, get feedback, and share writing tips with a supportive community of other writers. Open to all writing levels. New members always welcome.
Registration is required.
Submit
We’d love to see what you’re writing! Submit your response to Claudia Love’s prompt for a chance to have it read on a future episode of the podcast.
For our 10th episode, we talk to David Dominé, author of A Dark Room in Glitter Ball City. David offers a food-related writing prompt that will have you reaching into the back of your refrigerator.
He also talks about his writing process, including how he manages rejection. "It's hard to get a publishing house, even if you have an agent," he says. "So just don't give up every time you get a rejection letter, just put it on the pile. And every time I got a rejection letter, I'd be like, well, that's one try closer to my book finally getting accepted. So you have to be persistent."
Plus, we're excited to share a story submitted by listener Beth Kelly, "The Box on the Porch." Beth wrote her story in response to Gwenda Bond's prompt in episode 9.
About David Dominé
David Dominé teaches foreign languages and translation at Bellarmine University. His true-crime book A Dark Room in Glitter Ball City deals with the 2009 murder of drag queen Jamie Carroll in a spooky mansion in Old Louisville that once doubled as a sanatorium. Publishers Weekly gave it a coveted starred review, saying, “Dominé provides an enthralling deep dive into a bizarre murder case, enhanced by his eyewitness account of the resulting trials. He gives this colorful case the detailed attention it merits. Fans of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil will be captivated.”
About Beth Kelly
Beth Kelly lives in Lexington, KY, and has three rescued pets, Korbet (a cat), Esme (a cat), and Willem (a dog). She enjoys writing fiction and belongs to a local writing group. Her hobbies are swimming and gardening.
Join the Prompt to Page Writing Group
Wednesday, June 29, 6:00 p.m.
Spend time working on a writing prompt adapted from the Prompt to Page podcast, get feedback, and share writing tips with a supportive community of other writers. Open to all writing levels. New members always welcome.
Registration is required.
Take Our Survey
We’d love to hear your feedback! Through June 30, 2022, complete our survey for a chance to win a $25 gift card to Joseph-Beth Booksellers!
Submit
We’d love to see what you’re writing! Submit your response to David’s prompt for a chance to have it read on a future episode of the podcast.
Prompt to Page is brought to you in partnership with the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning.
For our ninth episode, we talk to New York Times bestselling author Gwenda Bond.
Gwenda shares two writing prompts that will spark your imagination no matter what genre you write.
She also explains why writing prompts can help you be more creative. “I have a theory that creativity actually thrives under restriction,” she says. “And so I think anytime you can give your brain parameters of any kind, it’s more helpful than just starting from nothing.”
About Our Guest
Gwenda Bond is the author of many novels, including the first official Stranger Things novel, Suspicious Minds. She also clearly escaped from a classic screwball romantic comedy. Not Your Average Hot Guy and The Date from Hellare her first romantic comedies, and will be followed in 2023 by Mr. & Mrs. Witch. She cofounded the charitable efforts Creators 4 Comics and the Lexington Writer’s Room, and lives in a hundred-year-old house in Lexington, Kentucky, with her husband, author Christopher Rowe, and a veritable zoo of adorable doggos and queenly cats. Visit her online at www.gwendabond.com or @gwenda on Twitter.
Join the Prompt to Page Writing Group
Wednesday, May 25, 6:00 p.m.
Spend time working on a writing prompt adapted from the Prompt to Page podcast, get feedback, and share writing tips with a supportive community of other writers. Open to all writing levels. New members always welcome.
Registration is required.
Submit
We’d love to see what you’re writing! Submit your response to Gwenda’s prompt for a chance to have it read on a future episode of the podcast.
For our eighth episode, we talk to Marianne Worthington, author of The Girl Singerand co-founder and editor of Still: The Journal. Marianne offers tips for submitting your work to literary magazines, discusses her favorite writing prompt books, and shares a prompt that will inspire both poets and prose writers.
Marianne also discusses her own path to publication. “Don’t give up because you know, I’m three weeks away from retiring from my day job, which I have had for 32 years,” she says. “And I’ve been teaching college students for 38 years, and only this year was my first full length poetry collection published. So don’t ever think it’s not going to happen.”
About Our GuestMarianne Worthington is co-founder and editor of Still: The Journal, an online literary magazine publishing writers, artists, and musicians with ties to Appalachia since 2009. Her work has appeared in Oxford American, CALYX, and Chapter 16 among other places. Her work has been supported by the Kentucky Arts Council and the Kentucky Foundation for Women.
She co-edited Piano in a Sycamore: Writing Lessons from the Appalachian Writers’ Workshop and is author of a poetry chapbook. Her poetry collection is The Girl Singer (University Press of Kentucky, 2021). Marianne grew up in Knoxville, Tennessee, and writes and teaches in southeast Kentucky.
Marianne’s Book Recommendations
- Ordinary Genius: A Guide for the Poet Within by Kim Addonizio
- The Poet’s Companion: A Guide to the Pleasures of Writing Poetry by Kim Addonizio and Dorianne Laux
- Write It!: 100 Poetry Prompts to Inspire by Jessica Jacobs and Nickole Brown
Submit
We’d love to see what you’re writing! Submit your response to Marianne’s prompt for a chance to have it read on a future episode of the podcast.
For our seventh episode, we talk to USA Today-bestselling author Tiffany Reisz. Tiffany shares a favorite writing prompt from V.E. Schwab that will help you check in with your characters. She describes her own writing prompt that will help you raise the stakes for your characters and engage your readers.
Tiffany also shares her thoughts on writer’s block. “When you’re stuck,” she says, “that’s your brain trying to tell you, we need to go in a different direction. And writing prompts or writing craft books can help you find that direction. The writer’s block is always trying to tell you something. It’s not a wall; it’s a sign, and you need to learn how to read the sign.”
About Our Guest
Tiffany Reisz is the USA Today-bestselling author of the Original Sinners series from Harlequin’s Mira Books.
Born in Owensboro, Kentucky, Tiffany graduated from Centre College with a B.A. in English.
Her first novel The Siren has sold nearly half-a-million copies worldwide. Her adult fantasy The Red was named an NPR Best Book of the Year. Her books include the Lambda Literary Award-winner The King and the RITA®-winner The Saint. Tiffany also writes mainstream women’s suspense fiction, including The Bourbon Thief (winner of the RT Book Reviews Seal of Excellence Award) and the RITA®-nominated The Night Mark.
Tiffany lives in Louisville, Kentucky with her husband, author Andrew Shaffer, and their two cats. The cats are not writers.
Join the Prompt to Page Writing Group
Tuesday, March 29, 6:00 PM
Spend time working on this month’s Prompt to Page podcast writing prompts, get feedback, and share writing tips with a community of other writers. Open to all writing levels.
Registration is required.
For the sixth episode of Prompt to Page, we talk to Mariama J. Lockington, author of For Black Girls Like Me. Mariama discusses the process of writing and publishing her debut novel, shares two of her favorite writing prompts, and offers advice for adults who are writing for young readers.
Mariama recommends that writers engage with their communities. "Part of being a writer is also experiencing the world around you and also engaging with it," she says. "So, you know, it's not just being a siloed writer, tortured writer in a tower, but the more you engage with people and arts and things that you're not familiar with, the more powerful your writing is going to be."
About Our Guest
Mariama J. Lockington is a transracial adoptee, author, and educator. She has been telling stories and making her own books since the second grade, when she wore shortalls and flower leggings every day to school. Her debut middle grade novel For Black Girls Like Me (FSG BYR 2019) is a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard title and has earned five-starred reviews.
Mariama's second middle grade novel In the Key Of Us (FSG BYR) will be out April 26, 2022, and her debut YA novel Forever is Now (FSG BYR) is also forthcoming. Mariama calls many places home, but currently lives in Kentucky with her partner and her little sausage dog, Henry. You can find her on Twitter @marilock and on Instagram/TikTok @forblackgirlslikeme.
Join the Prompt to Page Writing Group
Tuesday, Feb. 22, 6:00 PM
Spend time working on this month’s Prompt to Page podcast writing prompts, get feedback, and share writing tips with a community of other writers. Open to all writing levels.
Registration is required.
Submit Your Writing
We’d love to see what you’re writing! Submit a response to the episode prompt for a chance to have it read on a future episode of the podcast.
For our fifth episode, we talk to Martha Greenwald, the director of the WhoWeLost and WhoWeLostKY projects. The WhoWeLost projects serve as "a sheltering place for remembrance" for victims of COVID-19. Martha offers suggestions for writing memories about loved ones and explains how you can share your stories on the WhoWeLost websites.
She also provides a writing prompt suitable for all genres and topics that encourages writers to slow down and let their ideas develop. As she notes, "I've found some people really need to be slow and take their time with [writing]. So this is geared toward that idea that the slowness is okay."
About Our GuestMartha Greenwald is the Founding Director, creator, and curator of the WhoWeLost and WhoWeLostKY projects. She is the author of the poetry collection Other Prohibited Items, which won the Mississippi Review Prize for Poetry. In 2020, she was the first prize winner of the Yeats Poetry Award. Her poems have appeared in Poetry, Rattle, Nurture, Slate, Best New Poets, The Threepenny Review, and numerous other journals.
She has been both a Wallace Stegner and Pearl Hogrefe Fellow, has received fellowships from the Kentucky and North Carolina Arts Councils, and been supported by Yaddo and the Vermont Studio Center. She taught creative writing, literature, and ESL at the high school and college level for nearly twenty years. She's teaching a new class at the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning and collaborating on a radio series with WUKY 91.3 that gives a voice to stories from the WhoWeLost websites.
Join the Prompt to Page Writing GroupTuesday, Jan. 25, 6:00 PM
Spend time working on this month’s Prompt to Page podcast writing prompts, get feedback, and share writing tips with a community of other writers. Open to all writing levels.
Registration is required.
Register for Remembering and Writing About Our Loved Ones
Part 1: Monday, Jan. 24, 6:00 PM
Writing is a healthy way to cope with grief, but it's often hard to get started. In part one of this class, taught by the director of The WhoWeLost Project, we will learn how to write short remembrances of our loved ones. We will focus on the stories and details of their lives, whether they died due to the pandemic or other causes. All level writers welcome.
Registration is required.
Part 2: Monday, Jan. 31, 6:00 PM
In the second part of Remembering and Writing About Our Loved Ones, you'll have the chance to share and receive feedback on the writing you began in part one.
Registration is required.
Submit Your Writing
We’d love to see what you’re writing! Submit a response to the episode prompt for a chance to have it read on a future episode of the podcast.
About Our GuestKayla Rae Whitaker’s work has appeared in The Los Angeles Times, Electric Literature, Buzzfeed, Guernica, Literary Hub, and elsewhere. She is a graduate of the University of Kentucky and New York University. Her debut novel, The Animators, was named one of the best debut novels of 2017 by Entertainment Weekly and one of the best books of 2017 by NPR, Kirkus Reviews, and BookPage.
Join the Prompt to Page Writing Group
Tuesday, Dec. 14, 6:00 PM
Spend time working on this month’s Prompt to Page podcast writing prompts, get feedback, and share writing tips with a community of other writers. Open to all writing levels.
Registration is required.
Submit Your Writing
We’d love to see what you’re writing! Submit a response to the episode prompt for a chance to have it read on a future episode of the podcast.
About Our Guest
Jayne Moore Waldrop is a Kentucky writer and attorney. She is the author of Retracing My Steps, a finalist in the New Women’s Voices Chapbook Series, and Pandemic Lent: A Season in Poems, both published by Finishing Line Press. Her linked story collection, Drowned Town, was published in 2021 by University Press of Kentucky through its Fireside Industries imprint, a partnership with Hindman Settlement School.
Waldrop earned undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Kentucky, and her MFA in Creative Writing (fiction) from Murray State University’s low residency program. She is a former book columnist for the Louisville Courier-Journal.
Join the Prompt to Page Writing Group
Tuesday, November 30, 6:00 PM
Spend time working on this month’s Prompt to Page podcast writing prompts, get feedback, and share writing tips with a community of other writers. Open to all writing levels.
Registration is required.
Submit Your Writing
We’d love to see what you’re writing! Submit a response to the episode three prompt for a chance to have it read on a future episode of the podcast.
About Our GuestKentucky Poet Laureate Crystal WilkinsonCrystal Wilkinson is the award-winning author of Perfect Black, The Birds of Opulence, Water Street, and Blackberries, Blackberries. She is the recipient of a 2021 O. Henry Prize, a 2020 USA Artists Fellowship, and a 2016 Ernest J. Gaines Prize for Literary Excellence. Nominated for the John Dos Passos Award, the Orange Prize and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, she has received recognition from the Yaddo Foundation, Hedgebrook, The Vermont Studio Center for the Arts, and others.
Her short stories, poems and essays have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies including most recently in The Kenyon Review, STORY, Agni Literary Journal, Emergence, Oxford American and Southern Cultures. She currently teaches at the University of Kentucky, where she is Associate Professor of English in the MFA in Creative Writing Program.
Resources
If you'd like to read examples that use the braided essay form, Crystal recommends "Not a Good Day for Planting Root Crops" by Marcia Aldrich. Crystal used her own prompt to write her essay, "Dig If You Will the Picture," which appeared in Oxford American and in her book Perfect Black.
Listen to the podcast for the complete description of Crystal's prompt.
Join the Prompt to Page Writing Group
Tuesday, October 26, 6:00 PM
Spend time working on this month’s Prompt to Page podcast writing prompts, get feedback, and share writing tips with a community of other writers. Open to all writing levels.
Registration is required.
Submit Your Writing
We’d love to see what you’re writing! Submit a response to the episode 2 prompt for a chance to have it read on a future episode of the podcast.
About Our Guests
Kristina Erny is a third-culture poet who grew up in South Korea. She holds an MFA from the University of Arizona. Her work has been the recipient of the Tupelo Quarterly Inaugural Poetry Prize and the Ruskin Art Club Poetry Award, and has been published by The Los Angeles Review, Yemassee, Bluestem, and Tupelo Quarterly, among other journals.
After over a decade of living as an expatriate abroad, she currently lives and teaches in Jessamine County, Kentucky, with her husband and three children.
Jeremy Paden is Professor of Spanish and Latin American literature at Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky, and on faculty in translation at Spalding University's low-residency MFA. world as sacred burning heart, his full-length collection of poems on the Spanish colonization of the Americas, was published in April of 2021.
Under the Ocelot Sun, a bilingual, illustrated children’s book, won the 2020 Ada-Campoy Prize for Children’s Literature from the North American Academy of Spanish Language. His bilingual collection of poems, Self-Portrait as an Iguana, which co-won the first Poet in New York Prize by Valparaíso USA, has just been published.
Resources
Jeremy recommends that you read and study the poem "Eviction" by Eavan Boland before attempting his prompt. The prompt can easily be adapted for fiction or nonfiction writers.
Kristina suggests visiting a local art gallery for writing inspiration. If you aren't able to visit in person, check out 21C's online gallery.
Listen to the podcast for the complete description of their prompts.
Join the Prompt to Page Writing Group
Tuesday, September 28, 6:00 PM
Spend time working on this month's Prompt to Page podcast writing prompts, get feedback, and share writing tips with a community of other writers. Open to all writing levels.
Registration is required.
Submit Your Writing
We'd love to see what you're writing! Submit your response to the episode 1 prompts for a chance to have them read on a future episode of the podcast.