NPR's Book of the Day Two new books about writing break down the creative process
28 snips
May 29, 2026 
Mac Barnett, celebrated children’s author and U.S. National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, reflects on what makes books for kids daring and strange. Lucy Ives, writer and teacher behind a year of prompts, shares playful daily exercises and why writing often works when you feel you do not want to. They explore form, imagination, timing, and the surprising mechanics of creative work.
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Use Short Daily Prompts To Build Material
- Try brief, specific daily exercises to build a writing habit and discover material for larger projects.
- Lucy Ives compiled 365 prompts used in her teaching, each designed as a short experiment to generate ideas and practice craft.
Write When You Think You Don't Want To
- Do write even when you feel you don't want to, because those moments unlock unexpected parts of your mind.
- Lucy Ives says writing in times of perceived shortage (no time or desire) can access a different creative part and yield surprising material.
Writing As Bodily Conversation
- Writing is a technology that externalizes thought but also emerges from bodily action between brain and hand.
- Lucy Ives frames writing as an interplay of mind, arms, hands and fingers that can reveal energy and surprise during the act.
