By late April, nature awakens in bursts of movement and color.

Buds burst open, blooms unfurl, and green explodes across the landscape. Shoots stretch toward the sun, leaves uncurl from their branches, and wildflowers dot the fields in vivid patches of color.

But it all began weeks ago, as the Earth tilted closer to the sun, little by little, warming the soil and stirring life awake. Roots soaked up nourishment, sunlight transformed into energy, and the quiet work of renewal began.

Yet this spring has lingered, moseying in at its own pace, taking its time to fully embrace the warmth while winter clings stubbornly to the season.

This slow, deliberate spring offers us not only a season to observe but also a rich well of creative inspiration.

Let’s take its lessons of patience, persistence, and anticipation as the starting point for our writing. 

 

Journal Prompt

Set a timer for 15 minutes to write about this very spring—the long, slow arrival of warmth, the lingering chill, the hesitant buds.

Focus on what it feels like right now, in your body and in your surroundings.

Describe the sounds, smells, and textures of the season as it is—not as it ‘should’ be.

Let the sensations guide you, and explore what this spring awakens in you without rushing ahead to what comes next.

 

Fiction

Set your story in a town where spring seems to have forgotten to arrive. Flowers refuse to bloom, trees hold tightly to their buds, and animals remain in restless hibernation. For the townspeople, this endless winter isn’t just an inconvenience—it’s beginning to alter their lives in strange and inexplicable ways.

Introduce a character who senses that the delay isn’t natural.

Is there a hidden force holding the season back, an ancient pact broken, or a human-caused disruption?

As they unravel the mystery, explore how the prolonged cold challenges the town’s endurance—and what must happen to finally bring spring to life.

Raise impossible stakes and push your characters to their limits.

 

Creative Nonfiction

Start by reflecting on this spring—the lingering chill, the hesitant warmth, and how nature seems to hold its breath. Let these observations ground you in the present moment.

Then, allow yourself to weave these reflections together with memories of the past. Use phrases like “I remember” or “This spring reminds me” to connect this unusual season with another time in your life marked by patience, persistence, or anticipation.

Build a personal essay that shifts between now and then, offering fresh insights about what it means to wait, endure, or hope for what’s just out of reach.

 

Poetry

Choose one element of this long, hesitant spring to center your poem around. Perhaps it’s the bare trees, still waiting to sprout their leaves. Or the daffodils, blooming despite the frost. Maybe it’s the persistent chill in the air or the fleeting warmth of sunlight.

Focus your poem on this single subject, using vivid imagery to explore what it reveals about patience, endurance, or the delicate tension between waiting and pressing forward.