Welcome to spring everyone!
I’m really excited for these warmer temperatures and more sun! It’s exciting! I’ve been thinking a lot about fiction writing lately. Between my work at The Cameron Journal and here at SOOP, there’s not always a ton of time to write fiction but I feel it drawing me back in. I’ve been away from it for far too long and I need to open up those projects again. As the weather improves, it helps get me up and moving to do more, be more active and maybe even get some more fiction writing done.
I write a lot for various things (like this Substack post) but that doesn’t always mean I get to a fiction project. I will have them open and I often look at those tabs longingly at the end of the day wishing I still had a brain left to write a handful of words. But maybe that’s all I need to do is write a handful of words.
Right now, here’s what I’m doing to spark my creativity again:
1) I’m reading my own words back to me to get back into the creative place
2) Improving outlines (deeply creative for me)
3) Giving myself grace (I have a non-fiction book coming out soon!)
4) Re-visiting my Pinterest inspiration boards
5) Taking small notes as I have flashes of creativity
The most important thing is to not forget about your project. I admit that in the shuffle of doing videos and other content creation, I’ve let my fiction languish. I need to take my own advice I offer in my courses about finding a small time to write each day, even if it’s only 15 minutes. Usually, for me to reach that creative place I need a block of time but I might have to shift my thinking on how I write fiction and how I access that part of my creativity. My project for spring is to get those projects reactivated. I have my whole manuscript from my MFA that is sitting on my desk, about half way edited and I am looking at it daily. Let’s make it our project, together, this spring, to get back into that fiction place. I will work on it too and we’ll see how we do next month!
Keep writing!
Cameron Lee Cowan, MFA
Director of Publications and Anthologies, SOOP