A Writing Tip by Gin Coleman
POLLINATE YOUR PROSE

Mississippians joke that we only have two seasons down here. Summer and More Summer. Just when we think we’re having Winter, it is sun-surface hot again. But that is not necessarily true. Sometimes we have fall, and for a brief time, when we have spring, Mississippi, land of cotton and mud, rivals the Garden of Eden. 

By Easter, every growing thing is giving birth. Sap warms, juices flow, and love is in the air (literally) with watercolor-yellow clouds of pollen which envelop anything standing still.

Birds pick through winter bones like men in a lumber yard, selecting just the right lengths for their new homes. Silver-dollar turtles stumble through thickening grass like two-year-olds on the playground, tripping on gargantuan pebbles and slipping on rotting leaves on their way to fields and streams. Tiny wiggles of venom emerge and slither over forest floors or swim through duckweed waters. And I will spend the next thirty days checking my pots for supplicant heads of green and watching the skies, waiting for those miniature fast-moving flash of iridescent rainforest and ruby red that signals it’s tomato planting time.

So, what do I do while Spring is springing? I used to procrastinate, circling my desk, turning a deaf ear to my siren’s pen, struggling with my own personal kryptonite—the blank page. But that was before I took my first online class—Flash Fiction. Like Miracle Gro, it fertilized my mind, awakening my dormant creativity and sending out tendrils of fresh prose. Now, I participate in writing workshops, ones that fit my budget (free or under $100). Everything from first word to final manuscript, finding your editor, an agent or publisher, and your audience. Not only do they stimulate my creativity and improve my prose, they keep me connected with a world of writers, an unseen root system of people who struggle with the same issues I do. I find new friends, new ideas and methods, and more importantly, I help others do the same. The end result is inspiration, productivity, and publication.

So, my writing tip for this Spring: take a class, attend a live event, listen to a podcast, or like me, participate in one of the many short, budget-friendly workshops offered through reputable writing groups, associations, and publications like Cleaver. You will discover, like I did, the rejuvenating power of writing in community. This Spring, open the doors of your mind and let the warm wind blow out the old ideas clinging to the rafters and the dusty unused words littering the floor. Grab that pen or keyboard and fill your pages with life. The world is waiting to hear from you.

Gin Coleman is an award-winning author and story-telling tumbleweed who currently parks her trusty computer in Mississippi. It was said that the night she was born, her family reported a green light at the window and a crop circle in the back yard. After fifty years of working to make ends meet, Gin now spends most of her time writing, practicing Literary Citizenship, and trying not to burn dinner. Her stories are filled with the life lessons she learned and showcase her connection with nature. Winner of the International Impact Book Award for a romance series, Desert Born is Gin’s first series. Gin Coleman published her first Flash Fiction in Snoozine. Learn more at www.gincoleman.com.

Read more from Cleaver’s Writing Tips.