When inspiration doesn’t strike, writing becomes an uphill battle. Can you tell by that cliché metaphor that creativity isn’t striking me right now? Sometimes, no idea I come up with sounds good enough, or original enough, or interesting enough, and I’m left staring at a blank document begging my brain to just THINK OF SOMETHING.
I’m in a creative writing class this semester and my professor said something last week that made me reconsider the “writer’s block” dilemma that I so often have. She said that sometimes you can’t just wait for inspiration to “strike.” Sometimes, you just have to sit down and start writing until you feel inspired. Flannery O’ Conner once said, “If I waited for inspiration, I’d still be waiting.”
Her words made me feel “called out” (that’s what the kids say these days, right?) because I know I use “not feeling inspired” as an excuse not to write. I let myself sit around and wait for inspiration to strike rather than forcing myself to write in its absence.
But then I realized that the quote was actually freeing. I don’t have to wait for some grandiose idea to come to me in order to write. I put all this pressure on myself to have a great idea before I can even attempt to write, but that doesn’t have to be the case. Plus, a huge part of writing is revision, so if your first attempt isn’t an award-winning novel yet, that's okay. In fact, that's normal.
Inspiration might not be present at the moment, but that doesn’t affect my ability to write. I’m in charge of what I write, so I don’t have to wait for anything. Inspiration has no schedule, but if you’re writing whatever you can without it, it will eventually come and you’ll be ready.
Even without inspiration, your writing has value. The beautiful thing about writing is that whatever you write is unique to you and you alone. Your experiences are yours and no one else has thought and felt the exact same way as you.
I say all this like I know what I’m talking about, but in reality, I could barely get two pages written for a creative writing assignment last night. I didn’t like my character and I knew I was being lazy with the conflict I tried to create.
Thankfully, it was only a first draft, and not everything I write has to be a masterpiece. But that shouldn’t stop me (or you) from writing. So let’s all just get comfy somewhere, put on some music, and write.
