A JCPL librarian interviews published writers about their favorite writing prompts. These exercises can help inspire, focus, and improve your creative writing.
Brought to you in partnership with the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning.
Listen to Episode 58
Author Mandi Fugate Sheffel has always kept a journal, which she thought of “as this internal thing, a summary of my thoughts and feelings for the day.”
She had to learn to pay more attention to sensory details. “What you recognize in a moment is significant as a writer,” she says, because “that’s where voice comes from.”
On this episode, Mandi shares several writing prompts, including one that will help you become a better observer.
She also discusses why she opened a bookstore in Eastern Kentucky and the joys of attending the Appalachian Writers’ Workshop. Listen below!
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About Mandi Fugate Sheffel
Mandi Fugate Sheffel was born and raised in Red Fox, KY. She is a graduate of Eastern Kentucky University and is currently the Sycamore Fund Project Coordinator at The Foundation for Appalachian Kentucky.
She is the board vice chair of Mountain Association. Additionally, she owns and operates Read Spotted Newt, an independent bookstore in the coalfields of eastern Kentucky.
Her work can be found in Still: The Journal, Lexington-Herald Leader, Courier Journal, Appalachian Review, Salon, and the anthology Troublesome Rising: A Thousand-Year Flood in Eastern Kentucky.
Her memoir, The Nature of Pain available now through The University Press of Kentucky, was voted one of the seven best new nonfiction books of October 2025 by Book Riot and was shortlisted for the 2025 James Patterson/Bookshop.org Book Prize.