Write It!: 100 Poetry Prompts to Inspire

by Jessica Jacobs, Nickole Brown

" Write It!  might be one of the friendliest poetry tool kits/notebooks ever."
--Naomi Shihab Nye,  Young People's Poet Laureate,

Discover your creative voice and learn to write poetry in this easy-to-use guided journal with 100 poetry prompts--a 2021 Young People's Poet Laureate Pick! 

Thoughtful, stimulating, and fun prompts developed from workshops by award-winning poets will help you craft writing that authentically expresses your inner life. Compose on these beautifully designed pages, and create a body of work that you can enjoy privately or share using decorative display pages perfect for social media.

This lovely guided journal can be both a canvas for exploration and a treasured keepsake showcasing your creative voice. Includes decorative pages and a ribbon with beautiful cloth hardbound cover.

Genres: Poetry

144 pages, Diary

Published October 20, 2020

About the author

Jessica Jacobs is the author of Take Me with You, Wherever You’re Going (Four Way Books), one of Library Journal’s Best Poetry Books of the Year, winner of the Goldie Award in Poetry from the Golden Crown Literary Society, and a finalist for both the Brockman-Campbell and Julie Suk Book Awards. Her debut collection, Pelvis with Distance (White Pine Press), a biography-in-poems of Georgia O’Keeffe, won the New Mexico Book Award in Poetry, was an Over the Rainbow selection by the American Library Association, and was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award and Julie Suk Award. An avid long-distance runner, Jessica has worked as a rock climbing instructor, bartender, and professor, and is now the Chapbook Editor of the Beloit Poetry Journal. She lives in Asheville, NC, with her wife, the poet Nickole Brown, with whom she co-authored Write It! 100 Poetry Prompts to Inspire (Spruce Books/PenguinRandomHouse), and is at work on parallel collections of essays and poems exploring spirituality, Torah, and Midrash.

Reviews

[Sally · Rating 5 out of 5]

I tend to get emotionally itchy around prompts--they make me anxious, remind me I'm writing for a potential audience, an invisible interviewer. Until _Write It!_, that is. The prompts here are engaging and fresh but also reassuring, and they progress organically. From "Who Are You?"- to "Where Are You?"- to "Who Are Others?"-driven questions, they make a safe, inviting space to wander with my pen. The book itself is a cozy space, colorful and warm--I love writing in it, and just holding it in my hands. The mix of evocative quotations from contemporary poets and the encouraging invitations of Jacobs' and Brown's own voices is welcoming and inspiring. I'm a longtime writer who's taught creative writers in their tweens and teens, and I think this book is pitched to all levels. Highly recommended!

[Marianne Worthington · Rating 5 out of 5]

Write it! 100 Poetry Prompts to Inspire, by celebrated poets Jessica Jacobs and Nickole Brown, is a practical AND gorgeous tool book for writing. But these poets don't let you get away with just reading prompts; no, each page is beautifully designed with blank space for recording reactions to the prompts. Write it! is a guided, thoughtful, and exquisitely charted journal that is useful for any writer, even if you are not a poet. Jessica Jacobs and Nickole Brown have gathered examples from contemporary poets to illustrate each prompt. So nearly every page offers a lesson/example of poetry history and craft as well as a specific idea for generating your own writing. Extra: lovely paper to write on!

[Michelle Seaman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I hold this book with both hands. I press it to my chest, the way a child protects a beloved and wiggly animal. The prompts within Write it! are warm, smart, delightful, and in the best way, challenging. Poets Jessica Jacobs and Nickole Brown ask us to be brave and honest, to go on an adventure where we investigate ourselves, our places, our relationships with others. As we go, our senses guide us, and a pack of other poets stay close. I highly recommend Write it! for anyone who wishes for a loyal and loving companion.

[Brandon Amico · Rating 5 out of 5]

Different writers need different things from poetry prompts to get their writing into gear; Jacobs and Brown’s collection of kick-starts have something for everyone, from list-making to abstract thought exercises to permission to dig into the rawest of your emotions. And along the way, they use many a terrific excerpt from a diverse group of today’s best poets and writers. A great book for both aspiring and accomplished writers alike—all writers could use this.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This beautifully crafted, colorful book is getting me back into writing again after a pandemic-long writers block! Thank you Nickole and Jessica for sharing these generative exercises to ponder and play with. Looking forward to filling it up!

[Attie Dolke · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredibly rich, informative and inspiring book that makes you want to write and keep learning

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a lovely journal from two generous poets.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is incredible. The prompts are thoughtful, original, and unlike anything I’ve worked from before. I got this book as a resource for my intro to creative writing students, but it’s actually aided me in writing many fiction scenes for my own novel. This prompt collection is universal across genres; regardless of what you write, this is a fantastic tool. When I get stuck, this is where I turn. Write It! is as gorgeous as its authors!