All of the pros say you should never wait for inspiration; you should just get out there and get writing. And they are obviously correct. After all, they are the pros 🙂
But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be aware of times where inspiration WILL come looking for you. (It should be noted that you should also be aware of when it doesn’t come and have a plan to work through it.) But if there are times where you know you’re naturally more inspired to write, what you need to do it take advantage of it and get as many words out as you can.
So for me, there are two times of the year where inspiration practically jumps out from the bushes, grabs me by the wrists, places them on my keyboard and starts typing for me. One of those is late December / early January, as I’m a big fan of setting goals and getting a fresh start as the new year approaches, and the second is October.
If you haven’t been able to tell from previous posts, I love Halloween. I don’t know what it is, but something about it just brings out all my creativity. Maybe it’s the longer nights, the cooler weather, the awesome decorations and costumes. Or maybe it’s just the witchcraft and drinking.
Either way, my best writing of the year comes in October.
The problem, of course, is trying to maintain that momentum throughout the rest of the year.
How do you capture your creative mood?
That’s the real question isn’t it? If there are times or places where you are more creative, you need to find a way to mimic those times and places no matter where are when you are. So to use my examples of Halloween and New Year’s Eve, I’ve got a few ways to keep those feelings fresh in my writing brain.
If I need the dark and eerie feelings of Halloween inspire me when writing horror, I keep that feeling alive year-round by watching the occasional horror film, listening to spooky instrument music, and writing with the lights out.
If I’m getting that first or second quarter slump after the New Year’s rush has worn off, I try to recreate that exciting by reevaluating goals, setting new ones (both short-term and long-term) and try looking for fresh starts wherever I can.
You don’t have to have the “Monday Blues” if you view Monday as the start of a new weeks to set new goals and give yourself something to work toward.
So to close things out for this post, I hope that if you’re able to easily find writing inspiration at the moment, that you’re able to take advantage of it and reach your goals. And if you’re not, push through it by taking yourself back to the moments where the writing comes easier.
How do you find inspiration to write? Leave a comment and let us know!
