Much of writing becomes inspiration. You start by putting pen to paper and releasing a single idea or sentence which can lead to another sentence and then a paragraph and then pages of work that all flow like a river but starts with the inspiration of an idea. Inspiration could come in the form of a single word, or a thought, or simply a statement someone made in passing. Last night I got inspired to write a poem just from a discussion I was having when the response back was a single statement that led me to think and further the statement into a poem. However, inspiration is not always easy to understand, grasp or have. Inspiration is not always like riding a bike. Sometimes you can sit in front of a blank page sweating because no words want to come off your pen onto paper and it feels as if the well of inspiration has dried up or is blocked in some emotional way. That inspiration is like dieting. You can diet and lose weight and keep on track. Yet, once you get off track from a diet it is very difficult to get back into the regime.
I have been off my inspiration track for a bit of time now. It started as an emotional block because the story line had hit the pinnacle scene and the pressure I put on making sure the scene was perfect was creating a block, the block of perfection. Then, it became a work issue since I am a writer that works full time and is a full time mother with a relationship. The writing kept falling down the ladder rung by rung in importance. Now, I look at the page and all I see is white and the feeling is daunting. I yearn for inspiration from a word or a thought but I stare at the paper and nothing seems to want to rush out of me as it did before. I know that we all have days when inspiration doesn’t hit us. Those days when inspiration doesn't hit can easily turn into several days, and then weeks and then months.
The question becomes, how do you recapture inspiration? Today as I was online I was intrigued by all the theories of how to do just that. Many ended with saying just start writing. The problem is I can write poems and have been inspired there. I can write short stories and am currently working on one. I can write in my journal and get some of my emotional block out of me. I can even think of future novel ideas but the inspiration to continue on to chapter twenty five still did not hit me. The emotional block was too big and the writing ADHD too large of a hold on my window of inspiration. Then I found a site that did not give advice but rather just some writing prompts for each day. Although, it has not yet inspired me I was intrigued by the idea of the prompt.
In life we often need prompts or cue cards. We need those things that let our mind off the hook in one task to focus on another. Then, what often can occur is that the task that was pushed aside rears up and demands attention and the inspiration can once again start to flow. It is like looking for lost keys. I have spent hours looking for keys that I have misplaced. I searched through all the nooks and crannies of my house getting more and more frustrated. Finally, I give up. I sit down filled with angst and needing to breath and that is just what I do. I sit and listen to my house and my own breath. I relax myself and my mind and then BOOM! In pops into my head the memory of what I did with my keys. They were placed in a spot that I told myself was so that I could forget them. The problem was it was not my normal spot. I have not been in a normal spot of my life for a bit of time now. I started a new job that is stressful and demanding. I started a new relationship that is wonderful and consuming and I started other writing projects that were energizing and distracting.
I need to return to my writing spot though. I don't want to give up any of the items that have been distracting me but I need to make room for the schedule and time and patterns I created that inspired me to write in my novel. I need to take the writing prompt I was given and start there and then transition into my routine with a bit more ease. Even when you have a routine in place jumping back into a routine can be difficult when you have been away from it for a while. So, it is good to write something else that will help to transition back into the project you are working on. The poems are great, the short story energizing but they are not close to the topic I am writing. The writing prompt today makes me think of my novel. It has an element that could almost be pulled from my novel so that I can then smoothly move over to writing the story again. Maybe that is the answer. Not just to write anything but pull a question from your story line independently and use it as a way to prompt your writing again. If you are writing about dinosaurs but have been writing poems on flowers it distracts from the storyline. But, if you take and make a generic question like, "If I were living when the dinosaurs were living what kind of life and existence would I have?"
My writing prompt today for myself was, "You’re on a long flight, and a palm reader sitting next to you insists she reads your palm. You hesitate, but agree. What does she tell you?" My story has a bit of mystical and magical. It contains a family with gypsy in them that learn they have abilities of the same. The answer, the palm reader would tell me that I have a long love line that has been disrupted many times until finally I find the right person and start to settle down. She would take my hand and see that I have experienced life. I did not live but have had many emotional experiences. I am a person that feels deeply. I can be spontaneous but I like to plan. I can be outgoing and ambitious and successful but with the people I love prefer to relax and enjoy and be slow. She would say my life line is long (I mean who doesn't want a long life line right?) and I touch many people's lives and search for meaning in human nature.
This writing prompt has left the characters in my head again and their words beginning to form so that I can put them on paper. There has been a bit of life breathed back into my story line. It is still on life support but the more I write the stronger the hold of the story will become. As I near the end and scenarios become more emotionally taut and the characters more driven by desires it is important to be able to focus and anticipate. I envision the room I like to write in and the invisible sign at the door flashing neon saying, "Welcome Back!"
