Write The Book: Conversations on Craft

Tari Prinster - Archive Interview (12/5/22)

An interview from the archives with cancer survivor, yoga teacher and author Tari Prinster. We discuss her 2014 book Yoga for Cancer:  A Guide to Managing Side Effects, Boosting Immunity, and Improving Recovery for Cancer Survivors (Healing Arts Press).

This week’s Write The Book Prompt is to spend five-to-ten minutes focusing on your breathing before you begin work. Breathe in through your nose, counting to 3 slowly. Hold at the top for two counts more. Then breathe out through your nose for 5 or 6 counts. Don't stress over the breathing. Rather, try to lose yourself in it.

Good luck with your work in the coming week and tune in next week for another prompt or suggestion. 

Music Credit: Aaron Shapiro

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Rob Harrell - Interview #618 (4/20/20)

 

Rob Harrell, cartoonist and author - most recently - of Wink, a novel for middle graders (Dial).

Rob Harrell generously offered a Write the Book Prompt for today’s show. He created this one for kids. Come up with an unlikely super hero, and come up with their origin story, their powers, and what their costume looks like. Try to make it an unlikely super hero, like a BatPig. 

Good luck with your work in the coming week, and please tune in each week for more prompts and great conversations about books and writing.

Music Credit: Aaron Shapiro

Sarah Ruhl - Interview #540 (12/17/18)

Pulitzer Finalist and Tony-Nominated Playwright Sarah Ruhl, co-author with the late Max Ritvo of Letters From Max: a book of friendship (Milkweed Editions).

This week’s Write the Book Prompt was generously suggested by my guest, Sarah Ruhl: write a poem or a play that is a gift for someone.

Good luck with your work in the coming week, and please listen next week for another prompt or suggestion. 

Music Credit: Aaron Shapiro

 

Stephen P. Kiernan - Interview #368 (10/5/15)

Vermont author Stephen P. Kiernan whose new novel is The Hummingbird, published by William Morrow.

So let’s say we wanted to put some pressure on that paragraph, above. What if we were to rewrite it, putting some pressure on the language, making it leaner, and getting that last word, “widow,” onto the previous line? I’m going to have a go.

There! I took it from 13 lines to 10, and did remove that widow, which was, ironically, the word “widow.” Now you try it with your own prose. 

Good luck with this prompt, and please listen next week for another. 

Tari Prinster - Interview #330 (1/19/15)

Cancer survivor, yoga teacher and author Tari Prinster, whose new book is Yoga for Cancer:  A Guide to Managing Side Effects, Boosting Immunity, and Improving Recovery for Cancer Survivors

For this week’s Write The Book Prompt, I’m going to name several yoga poses (some that I found in Tari's book) and suggest that you write using these pose names as prompts. You can write about yoga, or you can be looser with your associations, and go wherever these pose names take you:

• Cactus clap
• Crane
• Dirty t-shirt
• Downward facing dog
• Frog
• Gather and hold
• Hero pose
• Half Lord of the Fishes
• Locust
• Mountain
• Neck stretch
• Pigeon
• Seated cat and cow
• Slumber party
• Step back see saw
• Twist extension
• Warrior 3

Good luck with this exercise and please listen next week for another.

Music credits: 1) “Dreaming 1″ - John Fink; 2) “Filter” - Dorset Greens (a Vermont band featuring several former South Burlington High School students, now alums).