Wherefore Art Thou, Inspiration?

People often ask me one of two things:

  1. Do I need any ideas for blog posts and articles?
  2. How do I come up with my ideas?

To the first, I always answer no because the answer to the second question is, inspiration is everywhere. I have to slow down to see or hear it sometimes. But it’s always there, clamoring at the edges of my mind for attention.

The majority of my ideas come from my Morning Pages. (see the article on writing long hand I published recently for more on this topic.) Others come when I’m at the gym or on a break between dances. I also get quite a few from my daily meditations.

Learning to Relax and Allow

The underlying pattern is ideas show up when my mind is relaxed and receptive to them. They don’t like to be forced, controlled, or dragged. Like a timid doe, they’ll come when we allow them to come in their own way, and at their own pace.

As a control freak, it took me a long time to learn to allow my ideas to reach out to me rather than the other way around. I’ve probably lost millions of them while trying to force something to appear. Nowadays, I can’t always write them down fast enough.

I used to carry a notebook in my purse, but I got tired of the extra weight on my shoulder, so I removed it. These days, I always have my phone nearby anyway, and the Notes function is filled with blog ideas, one-liners I know I’ll use somewhere, and even entire blog posts I’ve written during a lesson for a dance I already knew.

Breaks between sets at the gym have also proven fruitful. There are often a couple of quickly typed ideas in the queue awaiting their turn to become a blog post, article, or update on Social Media.

Keeping Track as Ideas Flood My Mind

Admittedly, I’ve become a lot more observant when I’m out among the people. I watch, listen, and wonder, and often those mental meanderings become blog posts too.

There are only a few situations in which I’m at a loss for words. The same is true of ideas. Sometimes I’ll start to be concerned when I only have a couple of things in my topic queue, especially as I’ve begun writing posts a week or two in advance. But I’ve learned if I relax and allow the ideas to flow, my queue will soon be full to overflowing again. In fact, it happened recently. I was down to a couple of ideas for posts on my website, but none for my blog site. It wasn’t long before two new ideas suitable for the blog appeared fully formed and ready for me to turn off my internal editor and let them fly.

Embracing My Own Organized Chaos

When it comes to writing, I may not be the most organized. I don’t typically write from an outline any more than I speak from one when I do my Facebook Lives. When I try, the words come out stilted and unnatural. Of course, when I first began letting the words flow willy nilly onto the page, I had to do a lot of editing, mostly because I was fighting with myself for every word. Now I’ve learned to let them flow and save the editing for after. Surprisingly, the posts you now see are almost exactly as they came out the first time. I may change a word here and there or correct a typo, but overall, what I spew forth initially is what you ultimately see.

I understand not everyone can write or even develop ideas this way. To someone who does their best work when it’s planned, scheduled, and controlled, my method won’t work at all. It goes against their grain too much, and they’re not likely to trust something that comes out on its own from places they can’t directly access.

For me, it’s an adventure. I never know what’s going to come out until I see it on the page. I’m not forming the words or sentences as I write. They’re forming themselves. So I get a new story to read and enjoy every time I sit down at the computer, or with pen and paper. The only question is, why do I sometimes have to force myself to sit down and write when adventure awaits every single time?

Finding a New Joy In Creation

Admittedly, I haven’t had to force myself to sit down and write in the last month or so which is probably why I’ve finished posts for the month long before the month rolls to a close. (with the writing of this post, I have 2 more to write to finish out September, and it’s not even the 15th yet!)

OK, small fib. I haven’t had to force myself to write content for my web-and blog-sites. I still haven’t gotten back to the rewrite of “Life Torn Asunder” but my plan is to get 3 or 4 weeks ahead on blogs, then dive head first into that rewrite. I’m already in the habit of devoting part of the weekend, all of Tuesday, and most of Thursday to writing. I even sneak some on on Monday, and chores permitting, Friday too.

The funny thing about writing is the more you do it, the more you do it. It’s like a drug. Once you get started, it’s hard to stop. Back in my NaNo days, I was known to write for 3 or 4 hours at a stretch without so much as a bathroom break! One marathon stint lasted 5 hours and resulted in a whopping 8,000 words! No wonder the best advice authors give to aspiring ones is to sit down and write every day. It works.

We Don’t Need No Steenkin’ Schedule!

Granted, I’ve yet to lock myself into the “same time every day” mindset. I’m more productive when I get certain things done before sitting down to pound the keys relentlessly until they yield a few thousand words of copy. Yet of late, I’m writing at least 2 articles a day on the days I write. Imagine what my output would be if I did it every day? Yikes!

Writing every day with the same tenacity and volume are what I’m now aspiring to, but I had to get out of my own way on a lot of levels. I had to recognize the fear that led to procrastination, and tell it to hold the thought, take a seat in the back, and I’d hear its arguments at a later date. Take a number, as it were. I’m not going to tell it the number won’t come up for a long while, if at all. I’ve heard what those fears have to say, and accept their right to feel that way. I have chosen to take a different path. And that path will soon have 3 weeks of articles written, formatted, and scheduled. Just writing those words lifts me up and fills me with inspiration. Imagine what it will feel like when it’s books being published instead of blog posts!

What is my inspiration? It’s the thoughts in my head, the world around me, other people, events, or even the cats watching birds fly by my office window. It comes in many shapes and sizes, none more important or powerful than another. They’re simply ideas. What I do with them is what matters.

About the Author

Sheri Conaway is a writer, blogger, ghostwriter, and advocate for cats. Sheri believes in the Laws of Attraction, but only if you are a participant rather than just an observer. Her mission is to Make Vulnerable Beautiful and help entrepreneurs touch the souls of their readers and clients so they can increase their impact and their income. If you’d like to have her write for you, please visit her Hire Me page for more information. You can also find her on Facebook Sheri Levenstein-Conaway Author.. And check out her new group, Putting Your Whole Heart Forward.
Be sure to watch this space for news of the upcoming release of “Life Torn Asunder: Rebuilding After Suicide”.