Prompt to Page

Prompt to Page with Robin LaMer Rahija

A JCPL librarian interviews published writers about their favorite writing prompts—exercises that can help inspire, focus, and improve your creative writing. Whether you’re a beginner or a pro, a novelist, essayist, or poet, you’ll find ideas and advice to motivate you to keep writing. 

Brought to you in partnership with the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning.

Listen to Episode 31

If you're a writer who works another job to make a living, poet Robin LaMer Rahija has some advice for you. "I think ideas and thoughts and little tiny chunks of motivation come to all of us throughout the day," she says. "Just stop and write them down and save them for later. And get in the habit of not ignoring that impulse toward a creative act."

Robin says her favorite writing prompt "feels like a dare" and is especially helpful "when you want to do something new and crazy." Up for a challenge? Listen below!

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Prompt to Page with JC McPherson

Each month, we interview a published writer who shares their favorite writing prompt. 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.

Prompt to Page is brought to you in partnership with the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning.

Listen to Episode 30

Author and arts administrator JC McPherson is also a trained master electrician who approaches poetry with a troubleshooting mindset. He says that "writing a poem is no different than wiring up a new room, like putting new lights in the outlets. And it's a process."

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Prompt to Page with Tracee de Hahn

Each month, we interview a published writer who shares their favorite writing prompt. 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.

Prompt to Page is brought to you in partnership with the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning.

Listen to Episode 29

On this episode of the Prompt to Page podcast, we talk to Tracee de Hahn, author of the Agnes Luthi mystery series and coordinator of the Carnegie Center's Author Academy.

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Prompt to Page with Sean L. Corbin

Each month, we interview a published writer who shares their favorite writing prompt. 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.

Prompt to Page is brought to you in partnership with the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning.

Listen to Episode 28

On this episode of Prompt to Page, Sean L. Corbin, the Poetry Gauntlet Coordinator for the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning, discusses his belief that "everything is a prompt."

"If you sit down to write a poem, you don't just pour it out," he says. "Something had to prompt you to do that."

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Prompt to Page with Jay McCoy

Each month, we interview a published writer who shares their favorite writing prompt. 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.

Prompt to Page is brought to you in partnership with the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning.

Listen to Episode 27

On this episode of the Prompt to Page writing podcast, we talk to poet and visual artist Jay McCoy, author of The Occupation.

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Prompt to Page with Terena Elizabeth Bell

Each month, we interview a published writer who shares their favorite writing prompt. 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.

Prompt to Page is brought to you in partnership with the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning.

Listen to Episode 26

On this episode of the Prompt to Page writing podcast, we talk to Terena Elizabeth Bell, author of Tell Me What You See.

Terena discusses why the events of the last few years compelled her to write experimental short fiction, and she offers encouragement to listeners who want to write about current events.

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Prompt to Page with Christopher Rowe

Each month, we interview a published writer who shares their favorite writing prompt. 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.

Prompt to Page is brought to you in partnership with the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning.

Listen to Episode 25

For Christopher Rowe, author of The Navigating Fox, writing prompts can help generate work when he's feeling stuck. In fact, one of his first stories to be widely published, translated into a dozen different languages, and reviewed in The New York Times was based on a writing prompt.

Christopher's favorite prompt will challenge you to rethink some of the decisions you've already made in a piece of writing. "Because I think that if you're going to write from a prompt at all, in any circumstance," he says, "you should just go with it.... If you're going to trust the prompt, you have to trust yourself to work with it."

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Prompt to Page with Bryce Oquaye

Each month, we interview a published writer who shares their favorite writing prompt. 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.

Prompt to Page is brought to you in partnership with the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning.

Listen to Episode 24

Comic artist, writer, and animator Bryce Oquaye considers mentorship to be "the most important part" of his journey, whether he's receiving feedback from other creators or working with young people.

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Prompt to Page with David Arnold

Each month, we interview a published writer who shares their favorite writing prompt. 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.

Prompt to Page is brought to you in partnership with the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning.

Listen to Episode 23

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.

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Prompt to Page with Ashley Blooms

Each month, we interview a published writer who shares their favorite writing prompt. 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.

Prompt to Page is brought to you in partnership with the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning.

Listen to Episode 22

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...."

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