New ideas to inspire your writing

You are a writer because you are inspired by learning, language, stories and the way words weave together or apart–for better or worse you must write. Or maybe it’s something more simple than that, but you find yourself here as a writer looking for new ways to find inspiration / which means you must write!

Writing is a long process—you know that—and you may have already given up once or twice (and that’s okay.) Sometimes it is hard to begin, sometimes it is difficult to continue on, and sometimes it is impossible to end your piece.

Be patient, you are on a lifelong journey of refining your craft.

Writing takes a lot of guts.
During the writing process things can often feel chaotic in your head.
You might have no clear picture of what you’re writing until you begin to read back through and edit, especially in the case of novel writing. Again, writing is a long process, and it’s the inspiration that makes it worth it.

It’s the inspiration which gives you that boost of serotonin and the fiery feeling within you when you write one powerful line or 200+ words in one sitting—or the satisfaction you achieve when writing a new chapter title.

When inspiration is sparse, here are some things you can do to remedy this, for the sake of your writing practice.

1. Who is your piece dedicated to? 

• Is your book dedicated to friends or kin? Dedicating your book to someone important to you can create both motivation and inspiration. Set up a space where you can put pictures or words or a small token from them somewhere near your writing space so that you are constantly reminded who you are writing this for.

2. Make a list of things that excite you 

• certain genres like science fiction, fantasy, romance or mystery may be your niche
• Maybe you want to write pieces that spread awareness, advocacy, or education
• Maybe it’s simply learning new words that excites you! Take a few minutes to search a dictionary or even browse pinterest if you want aesthetic images of words alongside definitions (but always make sure to cross reference from a reliable dictionary when finding new words online.)
• Make Pinterest boards
• join email lists of creators you admire
• After making your list find books, journals, blogs, etc. that you inspire you

3. Become a better reader. Now is the time to start flexing your focus muscles and teaching yourself how to be a better reader.

• If this one seems difficult to achieve, try visiting some libraries, local parks, and coffee shops to find your favorite spots to read and write. Make a space for yourself and your routine to live the life of a writer.
• Again, learn new words and make a list of your favorite ones!
• Explore other languages, culture and folklore
• Learn coherent editing, formatting and/or storytelling directly from other authors

4. Find your style and voice

• Are you poetic, do you like to rhyme or use prose?
• Are you matter-of-fact and like to get right to the point?
• Writing is about exploring your inner dialogue and ideas, it’s about sparking your imagination and realizing inspiration and keeping an open pathway for your creativity
• Keep a journal and write to yourself, just keep self-judgment out of it and let yourself go wild with words.
• Just write. Writing is a practice and you will get better at it the longer you write. If you can write a list or a journal entry, you can write a story.

5. What is your end goal? And who is your audience?

• Do you want to be a published author, journalist, blogger or simply want to write better captions for your content?
• Maybe you just want to bring a story or character to life
• Do you want speak at events, or travel the world, or just make a living for yourself?
• Write out your end goals and keep them vivid in your thoughts. Meditate on your end goal.
• Similar to #1 on this list, if your piece is being written for your eventual audience, think of them and their interests when writing! Think of the people who you want to read your book and draw on their energy.

Thank you for reading!

R.M.

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