Writers Recommend

In this online exclusive we ask authors to share books, art, music, writing prompts, films—anything and everything—that has inspired them in their writing. We see this as a place for writers to turn to for ideas that will help feed their creative process.

Jim Daniels

8.24.11

“I treasure personal totems. The J. Geils Band’s album Bloodshot came out on red vinyl in 1973, and when I slide that bright record out of the sleeve, it takes me back

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Lee Martin

8.17.11

“The raw honesty and the gritty lyricism of any song by Lucinda Williams hotwires me to the ugly beauty of hearts in conflict.

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Evelyn Toynton

8.3.11

“Of all the myriad pronouncements on writing, the truest one, for me, is something the poet Robert Kelly said

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Miroslav Penkov

7.27.11

“I find inspiration and solace in the wise proverbs of my ancestors, the great and noble Bulgarians.

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Shann Ray

7.20.11

“I am thankful to be surrounded by lovely women—my wife, my three daughters not yet grown

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Deborah Kay Davies

7.13.11

“Who knows what prompts a person to write? Thank the gods it’s mostly a mysterious process. When I sit down and confront the yawning white screen

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Scott Sparling

7.7.11

“Music, of course, starting with late-1960s Bob Seger, but also the alt-country-trance music of Jesse Sykes, and Jon Dee Graham

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Edie Meidav

6.29.11

“Here’s what I believe: The perfect writing you might do lies already waiting for you like a sculpture inside. Your job is to subtract

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Andrew Krivak

6.22.11

“I swim. I’m a kid from the mountains of Pennsylvania, so I came to swimming the scrappy way: ponds, lakes, creeks.

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