“Creative writing forces us to engage our imaginations—our capacity for wonder and spirit of invention. But it’s also a discipline: a task for which we have to make time, push aside distractions, and trust that our brains are up to a challenge. With a breezy, encouraging, utterly approachable style, Leigh Medeiros eases your mind into creativity with fun and thought-provoking exercises, each meant to help you with writing’s most difficult step: starting.”
—Stephen Thompson, editor and reviewer for NPR Music
“If I’d had The 1-Minute Writer when I’d started out, I bet there’d be a lot more words in my books!”
—James Yang, author and illustrator of The New York Times Standout New Picture Book Bus! Stop!
“The author’s prompts feel more like play than practice. They are joyful, creative, and approachable. Medeiros brings her infectious positive energy and encouragement—which I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing in her 48 Days of Creative Devotion program—to The 1-Minute Writer. It’s a road map to a daily writing practice, a remedy for bouts of writer’s block, and a delightful way to build and stretch those writing muscles. I can’t wait to share this book with students in my writing workshops.”
—Anika Denise, author of Lights, Camera, Carmen! and Planting Stories: The Life of Librarian and Storyteller Pura Belpré
“One of the most significant takeaways from my years of helping children unleash their inner playwrights is the notion that our innate ability to write is just below the surface—all that we need is to be provided with triggers that nurture that ability. The thoughtfully crafted and utterly accessible prompts found in the excellent The 1-Minute Writer, whether inspired by the everyday around us, gleaned from our wiliest imaginations, or harvested from our own personal histories, do just that—and help unleash our own omnipresent inner writers.”
—Jenny Peek, founder and former executive artistic director of The Manton Avenue Project
“It’s difficult to do anything from a dead start. You need momentum, something you can build from, and that’s precisely what this book provides: a creative wind in your sail.”
—Chris Sparling, screenwriter of Buried and The Sea of Trees
“At last! A gift to educators everywhere—a book that supports teachers in all disciplines to integrate writing as an everyday practice. Organized by theme and cataloged by number of minutes, this delightful and accessible text is essential for all classroom teachers. Medeiros provides a plethora of prompts that fuel the imagination while establishing important writing structures. Planning for writing made easy and enjoyable!”
—Uzma Hossain, educational consultant at Teachers College, Columbia University
“Somehow Leigh Medeiros manages to pull off a seemingly impossible paradoxical feat with this must-have book: she manages to get us out of our brains and into our imaginations. This book is like a Choose Your Own Adventure for grownups who want to write their own endings—396 of them to be exact! These prompts are a godsend for anyone who loves words: playful, ingenious flints that will surely spark even the most hesitant writer to fiery prose. Hot metaphors aside, if you’re anything like me and find yourself creating more excuses not to write than creating actual sentences you’re proud of, I guarantee this book will leave you feeling warm, inspired, and—most remarkably—accomplished. No longer will we look at time spent standing in a checkout line or riding a bus as “wasted”; you will relish every opportunity to dive into another thoughtful prompt. I only wish The 1-Minute Writer had been around decades ago to vanquish my inner procrastinator and catalyze my creative impulses. I can’t wait to pull this book of clever what-ifs off the shelf for many years to come, whenever the well of creativity runs dry or the rust on my wrist sets in.”
—Paul Walling, actor and writer