What inspires you to be inspired?
Aug 15, 2010 
I think most writing blogs at some point do a post on inspiration. What inspires you? they ask, and I always love reading the answers. The ones that are similar to my own sources of inspiration make me feel like I’m part of a secret club of creative geniuses, and the ones that are different often introduce me to new methods of inspiration that I might not have even thought about.
But that’s not what this post is about.
When I’m in the middle of a project, I tend to lock myself in my room and work to the exclusion of all else, until I meet my goals or finish or whatever. And if it’s a project spanning days, or weeks, or (heaven help me) months, I’ll avoid going out, choosing quiet evenings at home, turn down offers to hang out with friends, etc. I turn, however temporarily, into a total hermit. Thing is, this isn’t good (for a variety of reasons). Yes, it means I log a lot of hours working, but it turns out that I’m not producing very good work when I try to do it in a vacuum. And when I’ve locked out the world, no amount of my usual sources of inspiration (movies, music, books, etc.) will inspire me.
I have to do new things, find new experiences, in order to unlock my brain to be inspired. And I don’t mean watching movies or reading books, the things that actually do the inspiring. I have to inspire myself to be inspired. It can be as simple as going for a walk, or as significant as taking a trip somewhere. Activities that have unlocked my inspiration receptors in the past include long drives through new scenery and landscapes, fancy dinners out, somewhat less fancy dinners in when I can’t afford the dinners out, yoga classes, exercise in general, visiting wineries, walking along the beach, playing with my housemates’ dog, getting pampered with a manicure or facial… truly anything.
I never know exactly what’s going to do it. If I go out with the intention to unlock the brain, it doesn’t really work as well. It’s when I go “Okay, it’s time to take a BREAK from writing, and Go Forth And Enjoy The World” that, miraculously, my mind is refreshed and suddenly all my usual tricks to inspire myself start working again.
The weird thing is, I’m only just starting to figure this out, despite years of experience with it. The important thing for me is to remember to say “YES” once and a while and go out and do the new stuff, instead of saying “no” because I want to stay home and finish this chapter. And not to say yes because I think it’ll help my writing, but to say yes because I know I’ll have a good time, and that’s just as important as concrete inspiration.
I think doing something outside the norm now and then is really important. New experiences just refresh the brain and leave you open to the ideas that are trying to get in.
What do you think? Have any of you had something like this happen? What things seem to do the trick for you?
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I think sometimes I get trapped inside my little writing-centric bubble and refuse to venture outside it to do anything worldly. I need to remember that my novel will always be there, and it’s silly to block out everything else to work on it 24/7. I haven’t even eaten yet today because I told myself I would get lunch after I reached a certain goal. That, I now realise, is ridiculous. Writing is supposed to be enjoyable, not deprivative.
This post just inspired me to be inspired to be inspired 😀
Oh my god, I do the food thing too! I mean, it’s a powerful motivator, but sometimes I get so carried away trying to motivate myself that I deprive myself TOO much and turn it into something a lot less fun.
Haha, man I love your comments. 😛 Glad I could, um, inspire!
I wish I could say exercise prepares me for inspiration, because that would likely mean I’d exercise more often! Long, long walks sometimes do it, but I don’t often have time for them. Maybe as I get better at running…
The truth is, I’m not sure what makes me receptive to inspiration… and I think it’s because my life is full of so many different kinds of things that I’m always getting breaks from writing. I think in general the trick is to engage my mind in a non-fiction-writing way: photography, crafts, nonfiction writing, etc. When all else fails, reading books I love often makes me want to create.
Yeah, I do think you’re lucky to have SO many non-fictiony creative pursuits that inspire you. I’ve sort of stopped doing a lot of photography and certainly stopped playing guitar, in the face of spending so much of my time on writing, but you’re reminding me that maybe that’s not such a good idea.
Walks, for sure. When I go for a walk, even a short one, my brain switches gears. I find that it usually throws up some sort of suggestion or idea within the first few minutes. Thing is, that’s not the good idea. If I were at home, I’d run off and write it down and get to work on it. Because there’s another ten or fifteen minutes left to the walk, I have time to have the second idea, and the third, and the fourth, and by the time I hit the fifth, that’s when we’re cooking with gas. Something about getting the blood flowing and getting some fresh air gets my mind working in a totally different way.
PS There is a guitar in your room just waiting for your love. Waaaaaiting.
I visited one of Bertolt Brecht’s apartments in Berlin, and in his office he had seven desks (tables, work areas…) so he could have as many projects going on at the same time. That really strikes me as an ideal working situation – to have multiple projects (if that’s how you work) and to have specific areas designated to those things. I think if I had that kind of situation I would feel more like I’m being productive when I constantly shift gears and less like a scatterbrained weirdo who’s really just trying to avoid whatever she /should/ be doing. I do like to have different things going on so the rush or the train of thought from one can feed into something else… or if I’m stuck on one project I can work on a different project (and hopefully the other project will help the stuckness). So. Seven desks. Or work inspires work? That’s what I’d like to think…
Wow, I love that idea. It makes a lot of sense, too… I mean everyone talks about their ideal work space, whether it’s clean/cluttered/whatever, so clearly the work space informs the work in some way. It only makes sense for different spaces to put you in different head places. I reeaally love that. Now just to get to the point where I can afford seven desks… and seven computers… hmm…
Yeah, you were definitely the one to teach me about going for a walk. I think the first time I did it at your suggestion, I was knee-deep in snow during an upstate NY winter, and REALLY PISSED about the idea of going outside in it. But it worked beeaauutifully. Damn you and your always being right.
Great post. I agree about walks ans swimming does the same for me too. I think repetitive activity must free up the mind or something.
I also find the radio has been inspiring me a lot lately. NPR do such great stories that suddenly I’ll be thinking ooh I could use that and I’ll be off.
Ooh, swimming, yes. I completely agree.
And YES to NPR! I actually miss NPR now that I’m living for a while in Australia. It’s the perfect neutral radio station to have on in the car, and occasionally a story comes up that puts just the right ideas together.
Thanks for stopping by!