University of Minnesota – Duluth students in David Beard’s Minnesota Writers class interviewed local writers and wrote spotlight articles that we will showcase in the coming months.

---

Susan Perala Dewey teaches writing at UMD. I was delighted to speak to her about her career, poetry, and creative process. Susan was born and grew up here in Duluth. With four siblings, she spent much of her childhood playing and exploring outside. She said this led to a close relationship with nature in her work and personal life.  After graduating high school, she left the area and worked with a mortgage credit reporting company. Eventually she returned to school for her Bachelor’s. She then spent 10 years at home with her children before a friend convinced her to pursue a Master’s in English at UMD. As part of her degree program, she taught first-year writing. After graduating, Susan was asked to stay to teach at UMD and the rest is history. She is grateful for how everything worked out, but there was a long journey to get where she is today. 

Susan greatly values creativity. She believes everyone is naturally creative and curious, but our culture often values productivity and perfection. She shared a story about her seventh-grade English class when she was required to learn “speed-reading” which she has yet to master. With today’s bombardment of technology, it is hard to find the space to create. Susan believes in taking time to find quiet and calm. 

With someone as busy as Susan, one has to question how she keeps a drive to create. The answer is that sometimes you can’t. Balance is hard to maintain between teaching, family, and community.. She has learned that a continued connection with nature helps ground her. She referred to this as a sort of meditation. She said she often does her best ‘writing’ while she’s walking in the woods. She also emphasized the need to get away from home to ‘unplug and reconnect’ in quiet contemplation. This kind of self-care allows her to rediscover creative energy. 

Susan’s biggest advice to new writers? Find your people. She believes it is important to have a community of writers to listen, encourage, and support your work. Her current writing group evolved from her work with the Minnesota Writing Project, established to empower teachers across disciplines and grade-levels through writing. Her writing group meets monthly to write and share early drafts. She also advises working from prompts. The act of getting words on the paper is the first step to a deep creativity. 

Susan advises to be gentle with yourself. You may not feel creative every day, but it is important to turn creativity into something whenever you are able to. For those who struggle with sharing their work because of potential criticism, Susan has advice. She says it is best to seek a community to share work with, but understand that everything you write won’t be for every reader. Fear of sharing is natural, but taking the first step and letting just one person read can change your life. 

Susan uses the world around her for inspiration and is so honest about the struggle to balance creative writing with life. Learning about her nature-focused creative approach was inspiring. As someone who struggles to share their written work, I found Susan’s advice to be both motivational and deeply comforting. I hope you, too,  are inspired to write and share your words with someone soon.

Delia Alger is someone who yearns for escapism. Since childhood, being born and raised in Northeastern Minnesota, she has escaped into other worlds through science fiction and fantasy novels. She now specializes in short science fiction romance stories that whisk you away for a fun and easy read.  Most of her writing is done on an antique typewriter while sitting at home with her cats: Paris and France. A good cup of tea, a cat, and a free afternoon is her happy place. Outside of the written word, Delia prefers to be at home with her partner, crocheting, playing violin, or baking.