Day 21: Writing Inspiration

Photo by Warren on Unsplash

I’m having a bit of day today. It’s nothing personally big, just a bit of burn-out on all things, so I decided that instead of a normal writing tools post about structure or character motivation or tropes, I’d share this instead.

It’s Friday.

Friday is a day for inspiration and quick tips. Ready?

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Let’s start with some written inspiration from other creators:

“Protect the time and space in which you write. Keep everybody away from it, even the people who are most important to you.” -Zadie Smith

“Show up, show up, show up, and after a while the muse shows up, too.” - Isabel Allende

"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." –Leonardo Da Vinci

“You have to get to a very quiet place inside yourself. And that doesn’t mean that you can’t have noise outside. I know some people who put jazz on, loudly, to write. I think each writer has her or his secret path to the muse.” -Maya Angelou

“If you’re using dialogue, say it aloud as you write it. Only then will it have the sound of speech.” -John Steinbeck

“I went for years not finishing anything. Because, of course, when you finish something you can be judged.”-Erica Jong

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And here is what it’s about…

Well, what a lot of it is really about. Grit.

LOOKING FOR SOMETHING TO BE INSPIRE YOUR WRITING?

And finally, here are some quick ways to get writing-inspired when you’re feeling a bit…uninspired?

To be fair though, it’s okay to have times and moments when you don’t feel inspired at all. You get to be human, writers.

Read something. I think that reading a random poem by someone else, reading a book that is in a genre you like, but you don’t write in, thinking about modernizing a classic, all help. Even a blog post or a newspaper article can help.

Watch a music video. Honestly, my third publish book came from an idea I had running on a treadmill in the basement and a country music video came on (soundless because the audio was broken) on the tv.

Go outside and exercise and don’t listen to a podcast or music. Gasp! I know, right? But the lack of input makes some of us get creative.

Listen to music. It’s storytelling too.

Look at other humans in the wild. What are they doing? How are they acting? What are they wearing? What is their story.

Use a writing prompt. Make yourself write to it for at least ten minutes.

Speaking of which… here’s a quick writing exercise for today.