Rekindling Your Creative Core to Fuel Growth

BY CHRISTOPHER HAYMON
of ADULTING DIGEST
GUEST WRITER

Photo by Tirachard Kumtanom at Pexels

Creativity doesn’t vanish. It clogs, retreats, and buries itself under layers of routine and overstimulation. But whether you’re launching a project or rethinking your next move, the ability to spark fresh thinking is essential. 

You don’t need an artist’s temperament or a sabbatical to recover it. You need simple tools, deliberate shifts, and daily friction with your own mind. Let’s talk about how to make that happen without burning everything down to start over.

1. Create space for reflection

Your creativity doesn’t emerge fully formed. It has to be exercised, nudged into the open, and sometimes coaxed like a reluctant friend. One of the most effective ways to build that muscle is journaling. But not the passive kind. We're talking about short, directed bursts—a question in the morning, a reflection at night, a prompt like “What haven’t I noticed today?” The act of journaling trains you to be observant, to notice odd pairings, to question your own assumptions—and all of that spills into your professional instinct.

2. Let ideas surface without judgment

Trying to create something perfect is one of the fastest ways to stall out. That’s why freewriting isn’t just for novelists. Give yourself ten minutes with no constraints, no structure, no delete key. Get messy. Let the sentences fragment. There’s something almost alchemical in those moments when your brain outruns your filter—and often, buried in the fourth or fifth paragraph of nonsense is the line you didn’t know you needed. Professional breakthroughs often begin with deeply unpolished drafts. Let them be ugly.

From Undercooked to Gourmet: The Power of the Rewrite

Image by Yvonne Huijbens from Pixabay

Making a stew has often been compared to the writing process. To make a stew, you add potatoes, meat, onions, seasoning, and other ingredients to a pot and bring to a boil. But if you don’t let it cook long enough and give it time to simmer, the stew won’t turn out the way you had hoped.

Similarly, the first draft of your manuscript is full of raw material and not yet ready for others to read. If you only write and never revise, your work is like serving undercooked stew—lacking the full flavor and richness it could have. Taking the time to improve your writing can turn a good story into a great one, just like a good dish can become truly delicious if cooked long enough.

However, some writers do not see it that way. The “one-and-done” writers are not in favor of rewriting their first draft. Instead, they are ready to publish their book after typing the final period in their manuscript.

Writing a Book vs. Writing a Draft

Many new writers (and even some experienced ones) confuse “writing a book” with “writing a draft.” But in reality, the first draft is only 50 percent of the process—a time for gathering the “ingredients.”

Writers, like cooks who skim fat, taste the ingredients, and let flavors blend, should revise their work. But why do some writers resist rewriting? While there are different reasons, some writers believe their manuscript is already “good enough” and they do not want to ruin it.

Register for MANA's Motivational Weekend Writers' Retreat In 2026

If you have a manuscript that has been sitting untouched for months, you may not feel motivated to finish your work. Maybe you're uncertain that you can write a book, but you know that your dream has always been to become a published author.

If you need encouragement to keep moving forward, then MarketingNewAuthors.com (MANA) is here to help. MANA will hold its Motivational Weekend Writers’ Retreat from Friday, July 10 to Sunday, July 12, 2026, at Weber’s Boutique Hotel in Ann Arbor, MI.

Writers of all stages are encouraged to register. All morning sessions will meet from 9 a.m. to 12 noon. All afternoon sessions will meet from 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Writers' Retreat Highlights

The retreat will include a group for writers who have a manuscript and need professional guidance to develop it into a book. There will also be a group for writers who don't have a manuscript but have an idea and need assistance in developing it into a full manuscript.

Sessions will be held each day of the retreat. The sessions will cover topics such as:

• How to Become Published

• Be Aware of A-I

• How Do You Promote Your Book?

• Do You Need and How Do You Obtain A Literary Agent

• How Much Money Will I Really Receive?

MANA and RDP Wants to Showcase Black Greek Authors and Aspiring Authors!

MarketingNewAuthors.com (MANA), and its parent company Robbie Dean Press (RDP) are committed to showcasing the work of diverse groups of authors.

The two Ann Arbor, MI-based companies are issuing a call for published authors and manuscripts by aspiring authors who are members of the Divine Nine Black Greek organizations. 

Several members of Black Greek organizations have already published books with MANA and RDP. To view these books and learn more about the authors, visit MANA's website HERE. 

Now, check out the offers for published authors and aspiring authors below: 

For Published Authors

If you are already an author, MANA, a self-publishing company, invites you to display your book on MANA’s website. If you choose to promote your book, please send:

• A description of your book

• A brief biography of yourself

• A JPEG image of the book cover as an attachment.

Authors will receive a royalty of 70 percent of the money paid to MANA. The cost to promote your books on MANA’s website:

• $100 registration fee
• $19.13 per month (a minimum of six months) showcase fee

Should You Self-Publish? Here Are 5 Signs ToHelp You Determine Whether Self-Publishing is Right For You

More and more authors are choosing the self-publishing process for publishing their books. So, how do you know if self-publishing is the best option for you?

Five key signs may help you determine whether you can benefit from taking the self-publishing path and bring your literary creation to life.

1. Control Over the Creative Process

Self-publishing offers authors significant control over their work. To retain full creative control of a book’s content, design, and marketing, self-publishing offers writers ultimate decision-making power. This freedom enables authors to preserve their distinctive voice and vision without compromise.

2. A Strong Personal Brand

Established writers with a personal brand or a loyal following might see self-publishing as a seamless next step. If an author has an audience eager for new content, self-publishing can offer a direct path to share their work without the delays often associated with traditional publishing.

MANA Brings Back The Popular McGuffey Readers! Get Yours Now!

In 19th-century America, William Holmes McGuffey was one of the biggest names in educational publishing. McGuffey, creator of the renowned McGuffey Eclectic Readers, significantly impacted the reading, thinking, and behavior of generations of American children.

For decades, the McGuffey Readers were the foundation of classroom instruction across the United States, and they continue to influence discussions about values-based education today.

So, who was William Holmes McGuffey, and how did his Eclectic Readers become some of the most widely read educational texts in American history?

How the Readers Came to Be

Washington studied at Washington College (now Washington & Jefferson College) and became a professor at Miami University in Ohio.

In the early 1830s, the publishing firm Truman and Smith approached McGuffey with a request: Write a series of graded readers for primary school children. At that time, there was no national curriculum, and schools compiled texts of differing quality. The publishers saw a gap in the market and trusted McGuffey to fill it.

McGuffey began compiling and writing selections that were age-appropriate, morally instructive, and intellectually challenging. The first and second Readers were published in 1836.

Each book was structured to align with a child’s learning stage. For example, the early readers taught phonics, basic vocabulary, and introduced basic sentences, such as: The dog ran.

Create a Compelling Opening and Closing for Your Storytelling

An interesting opening and closing are essential parts of any well-crafted story. They frame the reader’s experience, grabbing attention at the start and leaving a lasting impression at the end. 

Without a strong opening, readers may never get past the first paragraph. Why? Because the opening sets the tone for the rest of the story. If you cannot reel in readers quickly, they will check out just as fast. 

The opening is the hook. It introduces stakes and raises questions. A great first line invites the reader into the story and makes them want to stay. You can create a compelling opening in different ways. One of the most common is using something surprising or odd-sounding that is then explained and leads into the rest of the story.

Take the first line in George Orwell’s book, 1984, as an example: 

It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. 

That line immediately signals something is off. That line grabs the reader's attention. In just a few words, Orwell hints at a familiar but twisted world.

Or consider the stark simplicity of Charles Dickens’s novel, A Tale of Two Cities: 

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. 

This is straightforward and introduces themes of extreme contrasts, emphasizing both the hope and despair of the French Revolution.

The best openings establish expectations for readers. A slow, plodding, or overly wordy opening makes it easy for readers to set aside the book and choose another one that competes for their attention.

The closing is just as important. A strong ending doesn’t merely finish a story—it completes it. It can repeat something from the beginning, tie up loose ends, and deliver an emotional payoff. 

PREFACE TO "A BLACK LOVE STORY: A SENIOR'S PERSPECTIVE by DR. FAIRY HAYES-SCOTT

There are several books written about love relationships by authors who have been divorced three and five times. You do not have to be married several times to be an expert on love relationships. And an author having been married one time is not necessarily an expert on love relationships. Nor can I, married for forty-four years, consider myself an expert. However, I do have something to share.

For well over fifty years, I have written in my diary. I began at age thirteen. Now, my diary is in volumes. I wanted my diary entries to be a way my children and grandchildren would know me when I leave this earth. 

My entries cover all facets of my life: professional, political, romantic, and more. My plan is to publish a book entitled, Are There Black Angels in Heaven? based on these entries and more—one side will provide the diary entry, and the other side will provide my perspective now as one who has more experience and perspective.

So, for MarketingNewAuthors.com’s blog, the MANA Sunriser, I provide entries that share and reflect on my experiences with romance. When I read my entries, I recognize how young I was and how much I wish I knew what I know now. I smile and let a tear fall, but boy, I am glad I have lived to share these entries with our readers.

So, I invite you to go HERE to read A Black Love Story: A Senior's Perspective. I invite you to leave your comments in the box below the story. Thank you!

A BLACK LOVE STORY: A SENIOR'S PERSPECTIVE by FAIRY C. HAYES-SCOTT

INTRODUCTION

Let me make this one thing clear. If you are looking for a work that graphically or non-graphically gives details about the sexual aspects of this or any relationship, stop reading, Why? My generation was taught that intimate details should only be between the two involved. In other words, that ain’t anyone’s business but just those parties involved.

Now, let us continue with the setup of this work. It is from my diary to my guardian angel. His name, although I am a female, I always, ever since I began writing this diary, saw my guardian angel as a male. Um, maybe the influence of society, whatever, maybe because I am a “boomer” and, in my early days, males dominated. So, his name is Regioque.

I began this diary at the age of thirteen. I have volumes from that age to now, 2025, definitely nowhere near the age of thirteen. I am a retired college professor and publisher.

This diary entry begins in 1977. I have chosen to transcribe it as it was actually written then. Thus, there is no editing, just my actual feelings at that time, sometimes raw and deliberate.

Next, this book is for my daughter, granddaughter, and really for all daughters and granddaughters. I figure this may help them understand me as a mom and grandmom, well after I croak. It may help other daughters and granddaughters understand their moms and grandmoms. Hopefully, it will help them as they navigate the road to romance, lack of, and, finally, the right one.

Oh, let me briefly describe myself—the self I was in 1977. I would not say I would stop an eight-day clock, but I was not bad-looking. Some told me I should have been a model. I opted to be a teacher working toward a Ph.D. in Education.

OK, that’s enough—let’s begin.