Hello hello! Welcome back! This week I'm going to talk a bit about inspiration, a word I have already read too many times today that has thus ceased to look like a real word. I kind of hate the word, to be honest. What is inspiration? Do you need to be particularly inspired to go sit down and write? My mom will often ask me, when she sees me writing, if I'm "inspired." The answer is... not really? If I only wrote when I was struck with a bolt of inspiration I would not write nearly as much as I do. So I'm not here to talk about inspiration in terms of an intangible concept that sounds kinda fake. I'm here to talk about real inspiration: the things that keep me going, that make me remember why I'm doing this in the first place.
For me, this kind of inspiration lives at the back of my mind pretty much all the time.
So no, I'm not abruptly inspired to write. I do it because my day would be lacking without it.
There are occasions, though, when I get this spark in me that takes over my entire brain and my entire heart and I need to run to my laptop and bang out 2000 words in an hour. That kind of burst of energy usually comes from talking about writing –– whether that be with friends or hearing a published author speak about their books. One of the best experiences I've ever had was going to BookCon in 2018 and 2019, where I walked around in a haze of exhaustion and caffeine jitters for 9 hours and listened to authors talk about their books, their lives, and their publishing journeys. BookCon was one of the only "lightbulb" moments of true inspiration I've ever had. Seeing those authors up there on those panels, and getting to meet some of them after, pretty much gave me a vision. I am going to be up there someday. That will be me. If I hadn't been unbelievably tired by the end of that weekend, I would have gone home and written a whole book on the spot. Very few other things have reinforced my dream of publishing like that convention did, and I deeply hope I'll be able to go to more conferences like that in the future!
So that was my big lightning strike. But what about everyday inspiration? How do I keep going? What makes me sit down for an hour or two and write a chapter? Short answer: routine. Long answer: a healthy combination of music, friends, and other books.
I'm not usually one to make playlists for my books or characters, but I have a few different playlists of ~vibes~ that I listen to while writing. If I really need to concentrate, I break out the Official Writing playlist that has a lot of instrumental/soundtrack songs on it so I don't get distracted by words. Otherwise, I usually throw on a favorite album and let it play start to finish, and tell myself to write without stopping until I get to the end. That's a good hour-ish (or sometimes more) of unbroken writing time, and often the music itself will inspire me. For example, my for-now shelved necromancer book is an idea sparked from a song by one of my favorite bands (the song is "Veritas" by Kamelot, if you're curious). THE ORACLE STONE was originally inspired by a number of songs from one of my other favorite bands (it has since derailed completely from that, though). The book I'm currently revising, THE DEMON MAGE, got its original idea from the song "The Prince is Giving A Ball" from Rodger's and Hammerstein's Cinderella (again, COMPLETELY derailed). I know it's kind of cliche to say I'm inspired by music, but it's true. Songs are stories, too, after all.
It has been said a billion times that the best thing a writer can do is to read, and like yes that's over-said but it's true. Reading other people's books makes me want to go write my own. Not because the book is bad and I think I can do better, of course, but if my brain is being sticky with words, it often helps to read for a little bit so I can remember how to write a sentence. I like to think of reading as a creative refresh. Other people's words refill my own creative well. And that's why having writer friends is great, too!! Few things encourage me to go write than talking about stories/books/writing with my friends. And this is why I deeply miss camping out at coffee shops for entire afternoons to work on projects with my writer buddies :(
Every writer is going to find inspiration -- in whatever form that might take -- from somewhere different and unique to them. Make your playlists, organize those pinterest boards, spend hours designing your characters on picrew, just go wild. It all counts as writing :) But honestly, like I said before, inspiration isn't usually something you consciously feel. Much of my drive to sit down and write every day isn't because something sparked me to do that; it's because I love my books and I want to spend time with them. I want to get lost in them, and get up from my computer with a few thousand more words behind me than I had when I sat down. It is a routine, but it's one I love and wouldn't want to live without.
So there's my hot takes for the day! And here comes your weekly reminder that you should totally go check out my debut novel, THE ORACLE STONE!! I still have goodies left, too, so if you grab a paperback, make sure to fill out the form and book goodies will magically appear in your mailbox! Okay, maybe not magically, but who am I to know the methods of the elusive USPS.
Add and review on Goodreads and I'll love you forever! (I also love Amazon reviews too, they help others find the book!)
And with that, I'll see you next week!
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