100 Day CreativeChallenge: Day 39 Inspiration: By Appointment
The torpid artist seeks inspiration at any cost, by virtue or by vice, by friend or by fiend, by prayer or by wine. Ralph Waldo Emerson
In the name of research and inspiration I’ve been on Pinterest, Facebook, design blogs, writers’ blogs, watched movies, read myriad books, searched quotes, lost myself in paintings, wondered in nature and engaged in absorbing conversations.
Writers are like magpies, collecting thoughts, ideas, phrases, and word pictures in a magnificent obsession. We carry a notebook in our mind, if not a literal one, to record inspiration.
Inspiration is found everywhere if we look for it, however, in the midst of the crowded landscape of life, how do we take inspiration and convert it into something tangible like a book?
How does a writer who does not have the luxury of a cleaner, nanny or chef, produce an amount of work that justifies listing one’s occupation as author in the midst of everyday life?
One of the best pieces of advice I have ever received is to make appointments with yourself. A personal trainer once told me that women are particularly poor at putting exercise as a priority in their lives. He told me to make appointments with myself and stick to them. It worked. I exercise every week at least 5 times and it’s become a lifelong habit.
I gave up a teaching job a few years ago to concentrate on my writing. However, in a gradual shift, other things such as ageing parents, children and significant life changes, have taken precedence. Volunteer work at home and in Cambodia, along with regular travel means life does not have a regular routine.
I have written and published two books; one manuscript is in review stage and one is being written. I am inspired, called, and compelled by God to write.
It’s time to make appointments with myself to write every day and not just fit in a self-imposed writer’s retreat or the last couple of hours in the day when I’m tired or on the road.
Inspiration provides the imperative to work, but sometimes I get sidetracked and don’t actually get down to write. I’m inspired but not necessarily converting that into a tangible product.
My husband keeps telling me to treat it as a job. So, what can I say when I’m drawn away from my writing? I have an appointment from this time to this time on this day and then I’m free.
Critique partners who want to see a chapter a week help keep me accountable and give me another appointment to keep.
It’s time to take the inspiration filling my head and finish those books. What appointments for inspiration do you need to make?
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