Funny how the words we blog about during this A to Z Challenge come to us out of the blue. Or not. I had such a block with my G words but the minute I sat down to write about I—Invisible, Instruction and Inspiration popped into my head. Okay, I have a point, but it’s still a little murky in my mind so bear with me while I work it out—at your expense. 🙂
Most of you know I interview authors for Southern Writers Magazine. I send questions to the interviewee—anywhere from 15 to 20—and then I write an article from their answers.
Sometimes I’ll read their response to my questions, feel inspired and recognize a hook and theme right away. Sometimes I struggle. Even though they’ve gone into wonderful detail with their answers, there are times I don’t see anything I consider interesting—and by interesting I mean something that gives instruction and inspiration to our audience who are other writers. When their answers don’t interest me, I have to make myself work on the article. Talk about a struggle!
This struggle comes from within me–not because of who I’m interviewing or their answers. Sometimes I’m resisting writing. Writing anything!
But, it never fails that when I force myself to start creating, I discover an invisible thread of instruction and inspiration within myself and within the story.
I looked up the definition of invisible and read the following sentence:
She feels as if her success is being blocked by an invisible barrier.
How appropriate.
I know from experience that if we play around with our articles, our chapters, our short stories, almost anything we’re working on … that invisible bone structure will reveal itself to us; that invisible barrier will disappear. That’s because we’re calling forth what we know–and creating our own inspiration.
I have inspiration and instruction deep down inside me. It’s an essential part of my make up. You have it too.
Believe me, if you’ve read how-to books and the writing magazines … if you’ve attended writers’ meetings and conferences, listened to professional authors speak … if you’ve read instructive blog posts, then you have deep within you sufficient instruction and inspiration that’s invisible to you—until you force yourself to create. Too often, we get frustrated and give up too soon. We lose faith in ourselves and our abilities and everything we know about creating.
Don’t wait until you feel inspired because that’s almost like taking backwards steps; leap into your project and success will follow. Try it. Just try it … and let me know what happens.
Excellent I post. Inspiration comes to those who get involved.
Mary at Play off the Page
Hi Mary, so good to see you this year! I love the way you put that… I’ll bet you’re an excellent blurb writer! 🙂
Waiting for inspiration- a long wait for a ship that doesn’t make port often enough. I like the idea of seeking it out. For me, that requires effort, a dance of sorts. I start writing. I write anything and nothing, sometimes writing my way into something worthwhile, often having to back out, start the music over. It can be a cruel dance, but I admit being addicted to it.
Beautiful, Ryan! I sometimes have to back out and start the music over too. Love the visual you painted.
I love this post. As a writer, I have this same problem. I have plenty of ideas but it’s those moments where I have to force myself to write that I question what I’m doing. I realized that just because those moments occur, doesn’t mean I still don’t love writing. Thanks for the inspiration.
Thanks for stopping by, Faith. We writers will always love writing. How can we not? Every day is different… just like every story. 🙂