A JCPL librarian interviews published writers about their favorite writing prompts. These exercises 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 motivation to keep writing.
Brought to you in partnership with the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning.
Listen to Episode 44
For author Wes Blake, a former West Jessamine High School English teacher, writing about his obsessions helped him find his subject matter.
“When you write about what obsesses you,” he says, “it guides you towards things that are important to you, maybe in some way that you don’t fully understand.”
On this episode of the Prompt to Page podcast, Wes shares how he channeled his obsessions into his book, Pineville Trace. Learn to recognize and write about your own obsessions with help from his favorite writing prompt. Listen below!
Listen on Apple Podcasts I Listen on Spotify I RSS Feed I Episode Transcript
About Wes Blake
Wes Blake is the author of Pineville Trace, winner of the Etchings Press Novella Prize and finalist for the Feathered Quill Book Award for Debut Author (University of Indianapolis’ Etchings Press, 2024); the book was featured on Deep South Magazine’s Fall/Winter Reading List 2024-25.
Blake has been called a “writer to watch” by Pulitzer Prize finalist Lee Martin. His work has appeared in Electric Literature, storySouth, Los Angeles Review of Books, and Louisiana Literature Journal, among others, and he holds an MFA from the Bluegrass Writers Studio.
Wes lives in Nonesuch, Kentucky, with his wife and cats, where they’ve planted over 100 trees. Learn more at wesblake.com.