penandpatience

WRITERS WORDS: “I shall live badly if I do not write, and I shall write badly if I do not live.” – Francoise Sagan

SEPTEMBER 2022 MONTHLY MUSING

INSPIRATION! OH, Where OH Where have you been!

Writing is a job. Writing is hard work. Writing, like any profession, has its good days, bad days and stuck in the muck days.  Your computer in-box becomes the expedient communication to the fate of your latest project. “Thank you for your interest in our publication. However, this piece is not a “fit” for us currently, etc. etc. etc.  Rejections are usually nicely verbalized.

I note writers do not become writers. They are writers and most writers continue to write despite the trials and tribulations within everyday life. As F. Sagan mentioned in the above quotation, writers must experience life if we are to write and write well.

Our lives are filled with experiences that have potential to fuel imagination and stoke creativity.  Running into an old friend in the super unseen for years, catching up with a shared past. A hair-raising scare from childhood that keeps surfacing when least expected.  Memories- the happy, the weird, the painful, the comical, and a perhaps a shameful secret may contribute to composites or unique character traits in story protagonists.

Inspiration can be a fickle friend. Sometimes a memory, a character surfaces and words tumble out on the page. Other times, a days’ work hits the trash bin.  I muse…for me, as perhaps other writers, the enforced and lengthy claustrophobia caused by the Covid-19 pandemic had a negative impact on my writing. I was not out and about seeing and having new life experiences that often trigger projects. I was not sitting at a favorite shop drinking coffee and people watching, a favorite writing pastime. A short story mystery attempt sat on the kitchen table for months with only a page or two added and later edited out. I missed the personal rapport with people and friends that the Covid pandemic curtailed for a too lengthy time.

I muse… There are ways and means of recovering lost inspiration. I believe most writers have personal methods that often work for them.

Here are a few inspirational thoughts:

·       Take a walk, listen to music, allow your mind to relax and wander. Sometimes, a new thought or solution surfaces.

·       Leave a writing project(s) close by-on the kitchen table, by the computer, at your desk.  You may be annoyed when you pass by these reminders, but other times you may pick up pen or pencil and begin to edit, erase, rewrite, etc. 😊

·       Never leave home without a paper pad and pen!  Carry them in a purse/pocket, in the car, by your bed, at your desk/computer, etc. Do I dare say on vacation! You never know when or where Inspiration will grab you by the throat!

·       Read favorite and new authors.  Reading and enjoying other writers’ prose, may inspire a “can do” inspirational effort.

I recently found in a library book sale an inspirational book for writers. “A Cup of Comfort for Writers,” a national bestselling series edited by Colleen Sell, is filled with inspirational stories that celebrate the literary life. Perhaps reading other writer stories may motivate and inspire you.

It did me!

“The one talent that’s indispensable to a writer is persistence.” – Tom Clancy

WRITE ON!