Nikki Stinson is sharing some of her background and creative process as we learn more about her work. Her story “Life Among Manananggals” is in DILIM Press’s inaugural publication Galleon Dreaming, available in 2027.
DILIM: What are your earliest memories of writing or creating?
NS: When I was around three or four, I wanted to tell stories but couldn’t yet write. So, I took stacks of the square paper my grandparents kept near the phone for taking down messages, stapled them together to resemble books, and scribbled on a few pages. Then I would hold “readings” for the family, where I told the stories, sometimes as I made them up.
It’s humbling to learn that so much of our lives is not unique to us, and there is nothing new under the sun.
– Nikki Stinson, Author
DILIM: Do you have a favorite place to feel productive?
NS: My favorite writing days are the ones I go to a new café or restaurant. However, my most productive writing times are my DIY writing retreats. I find the cheapest place I can near home, usually a hotel or Airbnb, barely sleeping and eating the few days I’m there. But I always complete the writing or editing that I planned to.
DILIM: Is there advice you’d give to the you from five years ago?
NS: I wish I had established and stuck to a daily writing schedule years ago, even if on some days I only produced a single page (or paragraph).
DILIM: What would you want the reader to remember, long after they’ve left the page?
NS: I want the reader to remember feeling a connection. I love reading a passage and coming across an emotion or experience that I thought was unique to me. It’s humbling to learn that so much of our lives is not unique to us, and there is nothing new under the sun.
DILIM: What’s next for you in your creative process?
NS: I’ve been writing more nonfiction lately. It can be difficult because what I want to explore through writing is painful, but it has been therapeutic.
Find Nikki Stinson at: @nikkistinson_
Also, her website, nstinson.com, has a short bio, a contact page, and a link to an interview about her writing by the Drexel Publishing Group.