Writing Prompts

Lisa Colburn

Jun 1, 2021
4 min

Listening for Your Original Voice

Last month, after my mother and I were both fully vaccinated, I flew to Maine to visit her for Mother’s Day. She picked me up in Portland...

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Lisa Colburn

May 10, 2020
4 min

Phenomenal Women

In early March I offered this video of Maya Angelou reading her poem "Phenomenal Woman" as a writing prompt to celebrate International...

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Lisa Colburn

Jun 19, 2018
3 min

Try This: Small Stones

At the end of April a small group of writers joined me for Flower & Garden / Pen & Page, a Saturday morning writing workshop that...

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Lisa Colburn

May 18, 2018
4 min

Try This: Ode to Childhood Junk Food

In the last six-week session of Writing from the Heart, one of our favorite prompts was this: Write about your favorite childhood junk...

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Lisa Colburn

Feb 9, 2018
2 min

Markets: How to Submit to Visual Verse

Sometimes as writers we just need a quick fix—to be noticed, to have our work read by someone other than our spouse, and to see our words...

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Lisa Colburn

Jun 22, 2017
1 min

Try This: Fun with Postcards

I’ve recently returned from a weeklong writing retreat in the south of France (more on that in a future post) led by my friend and fellow...

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Lisa Colburn

Dec 29, 2016
2 min

Your New Year's Inventory

I don't know about you, but I often find myself at this time of year—the twilight between Christmas and New Year's—wondering where the...

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Lisa Colburn

Jul 27, 2016
2 min

Try This: The List Poem

A lot of people are frightened by the very idea of writing a poem, and who can blame them? Visions of high school English papers dripping...

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Lisa Colburn

Apr 7, 2016
2 min

Try This: Mood Ring Poem

Every now and then I find a writing prompt that is so much fun it requires wider sharing. Mood Ring, from Writing from the Senses: 59...

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Lisa Colburn

Mar 15, 2016
2 min

Try This: The Proust Questionnaire

As I was scrolling through my iPhone news feed last week I stumbled across this article: "Sally Field Answers Vanity Fair's Proust...

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Lisa Colburn

Dec 22, 2015
2 min

Writing from Art

In my workshops I often invite participants to respond to images—whether from the New York Times Magazine fashion issue (Who dresses like...

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