Some days are more inspiring than others. I find myself sitting at my computer with several tasks to do.
- write monthly blog post
- post to Facebook, reply, repost, respond
- get lost on Twitter, reply, retweet, comment, post
- write 1,000 to 3,000 words to current book
- review edit back from the editor
- redraft book back from beta readers
- outline: next book in current series, new series, previous series, new idea
- approve cover layout/changes, final
- come up with idea for a cover (I once told my cover artist I had no ideas for the cover I was booking with her, and ten minutes later, I emailed her and said, “I have the whole series’ covers figured out.”)
- create ads
- write monthly newsletter
It’s a never ending search for inspiration that is worth writing and (please God make it so) worth reading. I look at every action in the course of the day as a possible relevant topic
- trim the dogs foot hair (otherwise she is constantly fighting slippage on the wood and linoleum floors)
- trim dogs toenails
- sort mail
- clean kitchen
- fold clothes
- be a passenger in the car
- shower
- dry hair
- put on makeup
- treadmill, free weights, stair steps, walk
I rarely get a zone-out moment to myself. Sometimes my brain demands I cease all efforts to create. So I grade homework, essays, etc. It really doesn’t replenish the creative stores. Actual time to just vegetate does not exist in my world.
What would I do if I could?
- sit on a porch and listen to the rain fall
- walk up and down the pathway in our backyard along the carport and admire the wisteria blooming
- cloud staring (I wouldn’t even look for shapes, just stare.)
- put on nail polish and take my sweet perfectionist time at it
- learn how to whistle
- learn how to play my ocarina
- learn how to tie all sorts of knots
- make that t-shirt quilt (my husband then would stop asking what I’m planning for that stack of clothes building up in our daughter’s abandoned bedroom.)
- sand my face with my micro-abrasion tool
- dust the entire house
- try different eye makeup styles (there are tenth graders whose eye-shadow looks ten times better than mine. I’ve been asked if I even wear makeup.)
- read all the writing-related books I have
- read more fiction
- complain (I don’t even have time to complain. Big moment here. I think I just complained. I need more practice. I’m not sure that’s an actual valid complaint.)
- vacuum the entire house, even the walls and ceiling. (You know when you have a baby, and someone gives you the plaque that says its okay not to clean the dishes, dust, fold clothes, etc., because you have a baby. Authors just plug writing into the baby slot — have a book to write.)
Back to inspiration.
I’m big on questioning. Whatever the “mindless” activity I’m involved in, questioning has always been my go-to “slide into what to write next” approach. I just keep asking questions until the character or narrator or my “planning” brain starts answering.
You’ve caught yourself doing it, I’m sure.
A question comes to mind because someone said something, others answered, and you didn’t get your chance. So you self-question. “When did you graduate high school? Have you ever broken a bone? Where did you meet your spouse/special someone? If you could be any age, what would it be?
And there you are telling your story even if nobody is listening. The only difference for me is I’m listening and at some point, I say, “Hold that thought,” and sit down at the computer and write.
