inspiration // #hopewriterlife

day 9 // inspiration ✨

Inspiration is a fickle thing as a writer. It’s something I yearn for all the time, but cannot force.

Even now, I feel lacking in words.
I’m uninspired to write.
But maybe that’s what inspiration is.
Writing past the block.

I often tell my students who have trouble starting to just write. Write whatever comes to mind, & soon enough you’ll get there.

Because sometimes it takes awhile to get where your words need to be.

I know that’s true in my own writing life. It can take me days to get to a scene I feel good about.
And in fact, it’s taken me years to even tackle fiction, thinking I’d never be inspired enough to write a whole fiction book.

Now, I can’t stop the inspiration.
I’ve snippets of stories in multiple documents.
Notes & notes on my phone full of story nuggets.
Character names jotted down from passing conversations.
Story beginnings scrawled upon scrap paper.
Waiting for the right time to turn into something.

All because I’ve learned to pay attention.
To be observant.
To wonder.

For me, inspiration comes from life.
From pausing to see what’s around me and what could be.
But it also comes from putting the words on the page over & over & over again until I finally get somewhere.

And from good books.

Because knowing someone else has gone before me—through the ebb & flow of the writing life—is inspiring in itself.

To me, there’s nothing in the world like getting lost in a good story to get my own imagination creating.

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This post originated on Instagram as part of the Hope Writer’s #hopewriterlife challenge, but I’m sharing it here are part of my Notes from a Writer’s Desk series.