Here is an image to inspire you to write a story, a poem, or whatever you’d like. Sometimes, looking at a picture is just what it takes. The following is today’s inspirational picture and a short sample of poetry I just wrote while looking at it for this post.
Blue moon of silver made
shining thru the popcorn sky
take my heart and breath away
my desires bring to life.
Ever felt uninspired to write? I am sure you have; I have too. Sometimes, all it takes is a little visual stimulation. Look at an image or picture in front of you and think of a story, or a poem, relating it to the image. Let your imagination run free and see where it lands you. Here is an image to start. However, the world around you is an image, and if you do not have the visual sense and are blind, then your ears become your eyes – sound becomes a story.
Today’s inspirational picture is
Are your challenges for writing excuses?
Here it is the 100 post of the Writer’s Wisdom series. It has been my joy to write them and I hope that you have enjoyed them too. I chose this topic for this post because we make hundreds of excuses about our writing. Sometimes, we disguise them and call them challenges. We all have real challenges, however when we use excuses as challenges, we hurt ourselves and our work. This applies to writing, but also, to everything in our lives.
Are we using our dated computer as an excuse? Our lack of control over the assignments we take? The book that won’t write itself because the Muse seems to be on strike? Or maybe it is the neighbor that plays loud music and does not let you focus? – (earplugs do exist).
Whatever our challenges are, we should look at them as opportunities to grow in our craft and not as excuses. Whatever our excuses are, we should not dress them in “challenge attire,” but face them instead.
Everyone has challenges, every one of us makes excuses at one point in our lives; it is what we do with them that will hinder or promote our growth.
Happy Writing!
Using Real Life as Inspiration
Ever felt like there is no more inspiration; like the well has run dry and your Muse ran away? Whether you are working on a short story, a novel, a poem, or a blog post, inspiration is right there – in real life. Think of news clips, bits of conversations that leak around you as you go about your daily routine, images of people at a distance that are without sound but rich in gestures and body movement – all that is inspiration, and it is free. Use it, it is there for the taking; it is there to inspire you and make your mind awake, but only when you pay attention and are mindful of your surroundings.
So, when uninspired, open your senses, awake your Muse.
Using work to procrastinate – Procrastination can keep you busy.
Yesterday, I wrote about being scared of success and the many ways in which we avoid change in our lives, even at the cost of our own success. Today I want to add to the topic. Procrastination is a way in which we can avoid change or sabotage our success. While many may think that procrastination is more related to lack of doing or putting things off, this is only a part of it. You can use work to procrastinate and procrastination can keep you busy.
It may seem a contradiction, but it is just different sides of the same coin. You can use tons of chores, projects, activities, and keep yourself busy in other assignments to avoid change. All of this is a form of procrastination, as the busier you keep yourself with other projects, you will not have to face the one that may change your present situation.
Procrastination in the shape of work is a soft and hidden form of self-sabotage and one that we should be aware of as it can trick us into believing that we are working hard towards our success when the opposite is true – we are working hard to avoid change/success.
Pieces of You
When writing a story, inevitably there are pieces of you that leak out, whether an idea, a belief, an opinion, a memory, something you like, something you hate, someone you know, a personality trait of someone you know, an event, a pet, or anything at all that might be connected to you in some way, these are all pieces of You.
Sometimes, we might take a memory from the past and think, What if? What if instead of moving to Jersey I would have moved to Italy? The possibilities of using what if’s in our story are many, and each open doors to the infinite, as far as the imagination can go.
Although the story comes from the writer’s inspiration and hand, little pieces of reality color the black and white pages.
Writing for a Higher Purpose
Why do you write? Have you ever thought about it? Many writers dream to see their work published, or the movie come out, and their name in the best seller’s list. This is all good, and striving for the best should always be there in our most important to do list. However, we run into problems when this is all we care about, and all we strive for – becoming published and known. When you put such amount of pressure on yourself, creativity will suffer. When your focus becomes something else outside writing, and your attention leaves the page, your work suffers. When being published becomes more important than writing, you have lost yourself as a writer.
When listening to best-selling author’s being interviewed, most of them express that they love to write, and they would not have it any other way. They are thrilled at how things have turned around for them, but number one seems to be the love for writing. And by loving what they do, and doing what they love, the money seems to come at the right time.
You may think writers have to eat too. And that is the absolute truth, however, you can make an income without losing focus. It is when your attention is taken away from the story and put on the $$$ that your work will become weak.
Why not write for a Higher Purpose instead?
Essentials in my writer’s library
Every writer has his/her favorite books, and the one that inspire the daily grinding. I love books, but some of the ones that make my list and that I recommend to any aspiring writer are the following.
A copy of the current Writer’s Market (you can subscribe online as well)
Everyday Spelling – Laurie Rozakis
Grit for the Oyster – Suzanne Woods Fisher
The Complete Artist’s Way – Julia Cameron
How I Write – Janet Evanovich
Everyday Professional Writing – Rozakis
The Complete Book of Contemporary Business Letters – Round Lake Publishing
The Office Professional’s Quick Reference Handbook – Sheryl Lindsel – Roberts
Keys to Great Writing – Stephen Wilbers
I also keep a dictionary and a thesaurus at hand.
This is just a list of some helpful writing tools that I recommend.
A Reader’s Game
At one point, you probably have asked yourself – “How do best-selling authors do it?” “How do they keep their readers coming back for more?”
An easy answer to that question is with another question – What keeps us coming back to our favorite authors?
However, part of their magic is that they know how to play the reader’s game – they challenge their readers. They give them more of what they want, but at the same time, best-selling authors seem to know when to stop, and how to encourage readers to look for more inside the story. They feed the story slowly, and they give the readers morsels of mystery and awe, of emotion and feeling, and the readers love the game.
But most important is that they seem to love the game of writing as well, they love what they do, they are true to the story and their characters, and they respect their readers.
The other day, I was watching a silent movie from the 1920’s called Metropolis. It lasted for over an hour, and I was surprised that it kept me interested despite not having any words or sounds, just the occasional line on the screen. The movie was full of symbolism, both, religious and political, and reflected many trends of the time. I was glued to it, at one point. Then, I started thinking, what is it about this silent movie that captivated my attention?
Soon, I understood, it was the symbolism throughout, despite no words. Then, I thought that this same principle is applied in writing. In writing, when words don’t suffice, a writer must use symbolism to keep the reader interested. A writer must keep the reader discovering.
This certainly brought a new awareness to my writing, and the funny part is that it came from a silent movie.
Inkspeare 