The Writing Life: Inspiration

At The Old House my “writing room” guarded by my writing assistant Ivory.

I’m a member of a wonderful writing group called “Ripplers.” We have a weekly discussion topic.

This week’s topic is “finding inspiration to write.” There are several ideas I have. As always, your comments and ideas are welcome.

Writing Inspiration

Inspiration does exist, but it must find you working. -Picasso

Don’t we all struggle with inspiration and “putting our seat in the seat and writing?” Even though I “write full time” it is a daily struggle for me also. I constantly juggle the tension of “fresh writing” with marketing/promotion/speaking which help allow me to write for a living.

I’m just thankful for the privilege and joy of writing. It is hard work but makes me feel most alive.

Here are three things I try to do:

1. Use a writing calendar. On my desk calendar, Outlook calendar, and journal, I sketch out story ideas and goals. Emmett Smith (former NFL star) said, “If it’s in your head, it’s just a dream. When you write it down, it becomes a goal.” Good advice for any endeavor.

2. Have a secluded place(s) dedicated for writing that has limited interruptions. (My “greatest interrupter” is named Curt Iles and the many distractions he can see.) My best writing place is our old family (“The Old House”) log cabin in the woods near my home. There are no luxuries, phone, it’s at the end of a dead road, and my “Dry Creek paper shredder” (the fireplace) works great. There’s something about tossing old pages into a fire that is very fulfilling. I’m sure some psychologist would like to study this habit of mine.

We each need various “old house” types of places to write. They must be created or found.

3. On my windows Desktop I use the feature called “Briefcase.” It is my “fresh writing” folder where I go to review what short writing I’m working on. Next to it on the Desktop is my folder “Maternity Ward.” It’s where I keep the current book projects. I use silly names but they remind me what I’m doing.

Thanks for allowing me to share about this subject every writer, at every stage, struggles with.

Curt Iles

“Duty makes us do things well, but love makes us do them beautifully.”

-Zig Ziglar

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