Writing prompts and exercises can be the perfect way to move your writing project forward. Some of our members have shared their favourite writing prompts to spark your creativity.

Sometimes the hardest thing is to start. The late, great BC poet Patrick Lane talked about doing “finger exercises” every morning. Just like with my back, my poems get stiff when I don’t warm up. A few of my favourite strategies: Write: “The first time I …”and then ten more lines. Or steal a line or vocabulary from your poetry feed and go from there. My current favourite is: Anaphora! Start every line with “Because” or “I remember.” Put the timer on for 10 minutes and scribble.

About Susan Alexander:

Susan Alexander is the author of two collections of poems, The Dance Floor Tilts and Nothing You Can Carry and a former journalist. Her work has won multiple awards, including the Mitchell Prize for Faith and Poetry in 2019. Susan’s poems appear in anthologies and literary magazines in Canada, the U.K. and the U.S., have ridden Vancouver buses as part of Poetry in Transit and even shown up in the woods around Whistler. She lives on Nexwlélexm/Bowen Island, the traditional territory of the Squamish people.