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 60
If writing sometimes feels like a chore, author Melissa Scholes Young has some advice for how to change your outlook.
“I like to think about when I show up to my writing desk as sort of a date rather than a punishing part of the process,” she says, “and I wanna set that date the night before.”
That means setting out her favorite pen, journal, and coffee mug—all of which helps her look forward to her writing time.
Shifting perspectives is something Melissa likes to do in her work as well, and she shares a writing prompt that will help you think “bigger and then smaller about the world.”
She also discusses her new Lexington bookstore Bond House Books, the art of revision, and more. Listen below!
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About Melissa Scholes Young
Melissa Scholes Young is the author of the novels Flood and The Hive. Her poetry collection, Another Word for Longing: Saudade, is forthcoming in the New Women’s Voices series from Finishing Line Press.
Her stories and essays have appeared in the Atlantic, Ms., Washington Post, Poets & Writers, Literary Hub, Joyland, Brevity, and The Believer. Her poetry has appeared in Poet Lore, Tapestry, New Madrid, and Gargoyle.
A first generation college student from Hannibal, Missouri, she is Professor in Creative Writing at the University of Kentucky.