ALUMNX STORY: Jamie Li, 2025 MFA in Writing
“Everyone is creative and everything has creative potential.” -Jamie Li (W ’25)
Jamie Li (W ’25) is an inspiration professional. A graduate of VCFA’s MFA in Writing, Jamie Li is the creator and voice behind Now Go Write.
For many writers, finding a source of inspiration and jumping over the wall of writer’s block is a life-long endeavor. The Now Go Write project tries to help writers find their well of inspiration with Li’s prompt-generating website and her on-going writing focused newsletter, Now Go Write. To Li, a writer’s “inspiration comes from novelty,” and these projects try to give just that to creatives from around the world.
VCFA interviewed Li about the importance of cultivating a practice of inspiration in the fall of 2025. Learn more about Li’s vital project for writers, her thoughts on the art of inspiration, and about her time at VCFA below.
The Interview
Q: How did writing enter your life? Why did it stay in your life?
A: I’ve always loved reading, writing, and was always a huge word nerd. As a kid, I was one of those voracious readers with a fat stack of books at my bedside table reading late into the night—probably how I got so nearsighted! In elementary school, we had a student run newsletter and I loved contributing to it. Into adulthood, I dabbled in food writing and got some creative writing published here and there while maintaining a corporate job, but never gave myself permission to pursue it fully. Writing stays in my life because even though I often find it agonizing, I am always proud of what I produce. I love how much it challenges me and it never fails to transform me in the process.
Q: What motivated you to pursue an MFA in your writing journey?
A: During the pandemic, I reflected long and hard about where my life was headed. I always knew I was an artist and wanted to write but felt like I had no true outlet in my career. Around this time, my grandpa—who was a respected writer and academic—passed, and I decided, “F it, I’ve always believed in myself as a writer, so let’s see where it can take me” and applied to MFAs. Writing helps me feel close to him, and I hope I’m making him proud!
Q: You run the Now Go Write series, which involves a newsletter and a prompt-generating website. Can you talk about how this all came to be? What inspired you to be an inspiration professional?
A: Hah! I’m gonna make “Inspiration Professional” my official LinkedIn title. Now if only I could get paid for it…. I’m also appreciating the irony of the title because I get creatively blocked all the freaking time and I am always on the hunt for inspiration. So in a sense, that’s how it came to be. I figured if something like this could help me, it’d probably help others too.
Q: In your words, what role do prompts play in the creative process—no matter your genre/area of practice?
A: I think of prompts as a way to dislodge stagnant parts of your mind and shake the parts loose. The more peculiar a prompt’s constraints are, the better. We’re all used to the specific way our brains function that we hardly even notice anymore, so we need something unexpected to lead us to unexpected results.
Q: What are some prompts you’d recommend to any writer?
A: My all-time favorite prompt I’ve ever written: Write a love letter. Not a timid one but one that spills over. A missive that holds nothing back. Open the door and let it in however it comes to you, whether in the form of self-love, revolutionary love, platonic love, unconditional love, timeless love. Profess your devotion, get lost in the sauce, make yourself blush.
Q: What does it mean as a writer to be inspired? How can writers curate an individual practice of inspiration?
A: Being in this state is almost like arousal: something catches your attention, you get butterflies, this rush of urgency, and suddenly you’re fixated and have to go write it all out before the feeling escapes you.
You must regularly do something—anything, really—out of the ordinary. Walk or drive a new route home, stop into that random corner store, talk to that stranger, style your clothes differently and step out. Monotony is great for cultivating discipline, but inspiration comes from novelty. Like everything in life, it’s a balance.
Q: What have you learned about yourself as a writer by critically investigating inspiration and sources of inspiration?
A: I learned that inspiration can come from anywhere and everywhere as long as you remain open to seeing it. It doesn’t have to be this big lightning flash of a strike, it can come from something as mundane as observing a fellow grocery shopper or noticing the pattern on a flower.
Q: How do programs such as critique groups, MFA programs, workshops, and like assist in the practice of inspiration?
A: These all function to inject the fresh and unexpected into the creative process. In each setting you mentioned, your ideas and everyone else’s are like atoms impacting one another, ricocheting off into new directions and carrying with them imprints from each collision. Plus these group settings can be really fun, make writing less solitary, and do wonders for shooing away writer’s block.
Q: How does the VCFA community as a whole feed your creative spirit?
A: I love that VCFA is a true arts school. The biggest reason why I wanted to attend was the exposure you get to different art forms. I don’t know any other program that emphasizes this type of cross-pollination and experimentation. Drawing unexpected connections across disciplines is the essence of creativity and VCFA totally embodies that.
Q: What advice would you give to the broader writing community on nurturing the creative self?
A: Everyone is creative and everything has creative potential. No matter where you are in life or your artistic journey, creativity is everywhere. In how you make your morning matcha, what you choose to say to someone, how you practice your craft. It requires thinking a little differently about the things around you, but it can be done at any moment.
Stay up to date with Jamie Li and her projects at nowgowrite.substack.com and jamieli.co.