MARIE C. HIGGINS is a writer, poet, and entrepreneur. She is the author of Sprouting Spiritual Growth: A Memoir and Guide to Spiritual Journaling. She is a Contributing Poet for Mad Swirl, where she has published several short stories as well. Marie has written a monthly column with journaling prompts called “Spiritual Matters” for CreateWriteNow.com. She is currently working on longer fiction, including a novella.
ANGELA: Where do your ideas come from?
MARIE: With poetry, a lot of my ideas come from nature as well as gratitude lists (often nature is on my lists) but sometimes inspiration happens in the moment, when I’m walking outside, for example. For fiction, ideas often come from prompts, especially from one of the original founders of the writing group to which I belong. Bimonthly the group is given the first line for a story which we may not alter. It doesn’t mean that I don’t eventually alter it, it’s just that I don’t alter it for the assignment. It is actually where a lot of my short stories begin.
ANGELA: What genres do you write in (and why)?
MARIE: I write poetry, non-fiction including memoir, and book-length and short fiction.
ANGELA: When did you start writing (and why)?
MARIE: When I look back upon my journey with creative writing, I immediately think about a lengthy poetry assignment in seventh or eighth grade, having to create a booklet of poems utilizing a variety of traditional forms like haiku and limerick. I think I still have the booklet and even have one of the limericks memorized (it’s about a turkey, so I tell it every Thanksgiving!). I also won a city-wide essay contest in high school which was extremely affirming. However, I didn’t keep at it because my career path and family desires took me elsewhere. It wasn’t until my late forties that I began to journal every day. This led to writing poetry and an opus of sorts, Sprouting Spiritual Growth: A Memoir and a Guide to Spiritual Journaling. Writing short stories (some published) and a novel (querying agents) came several years later and is my current focus.
ANGELA: What are you currently reading?
MARIE: Remarkably Intelligent Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt; Eager, The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter by Ben Goldfarb; and Waypoints: My Scottish Journey by Sam Heughan
ANGELA: What is one of your all-time favorite books (and why)?
MARIE: I can’t pick just one, but the first one that comes to mind is The Good Earth by Pearl S Buck. She really brought rural China to life in her descriptions and characters. I still remember feeling the heroine’s heart break when her husband takes her jewelry to give to his concubine. What betrayal!
ANGELA: What is your favorite literary technique/device/element to use in your writing?
MARIE: My favorite literary technique is probably dialogue. It helps me quickly bring the relationships between characters alive.
ANGELA: How frequently (and for how long/how much) do you write?
MARIE: I write almost every day, at the very least in my journal. Journal writing inspires poetry because I’m often exploring my own inner dialogue. Most recently I felt inspired to write sestinas; as a result, I collect words from my entries to use as the end words; once I have six, I get down to the writing. I generally do not have story ideas lined up for my next sit-down. I get inspiration when completing writing assignments. These assignments might come from a class or the writer’s group to which I belong. I have written a first draft of a novel which began from a given first line (that first line has since changed, but it’s what got me started on a thread). Of my published short stories, my favorite is probably “The Butterfly Effect” It came from a challenge to include a first kiss, a tombstone and a butterfly collection.
I don’t have a set goal regarding length of time. Journal writing is generally a minimum of twenty minutes, first thing in the morning after walking my dog; writing fiction is during planned stretches, generally a minimum of two hours.
ANGELA: Where do you do most of your writing (and why)?
MARIE: I do most of my writing at home on my laptop in various spaces in my home, dependent on the season: for example, on the back porch when weather permits; in front of a roaring fire when it doesn’t. I also use my phone when an idea strikes, often on a walk, and then I voice record the idea into an email.
ANGELA: Do you already have ideas lined up so that you could immediately start the next story?
MARIE: For me, I can get overwhelmed if I have too many things in my queue, so I generally keep with one story until it’s done, or at least until I’ve decided not to continue with it. It doesn’t take long for something new to appear.
ANGELA: Do you always start the next work immediately after completing one?
MARIE: With the one novel I recently completed, I took a break. I see a pattern happening: write in the fall and winter, play in the summer.
ANGELA: What do you do about writer’s block?
MARIE: I don’t even want to touch the subject of writer’s block! Instead, maybe it’s helpful that I mention that I do not write as much in the summer because other interests and relationships take center stage (my husband is off so when I finish work, I generally am joining up with him). As a result, I set myself up for a creative return in the fall by joining back up with my goals (so many submissions per month, reading literary journals weekly, etc.).
ANGELA: What do you know now that you wish you had known when you were starting out as a writer?
MARIE: Once you have a writing routine, call yourself a writer. It doesn’t matter if you have anything published yet; it doesn’t matter if you haven’t made a cent. Just keep writing and dreaming of publication because on-going writing makes us better writers.
Interview conducted in December 2022.
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