AMA: What’s harder? Waiting for the inspiration to write or writing to inspire?
On Writing: Show up and Inspiration with meet you where you are.
When I first began taking myself seriously as a writer I found it hard to write without Inspiration pushing me forward. I felt reliant on Inspiration to show up for me and I’d drag my feet to the page. But after almost two years of wrestling with it and letting it call the shots on my writing, I stopped waiting for Inspiration.
I started showing up for myself, inspired or not. I’d come to the page every day regardless of how I felt. Some days went better than others. Some days I could barely sit for five minutes without feeling completely inadequate and discouraged like Inspiration had given up on me. But after cultivating this sort of discipline for a year or so, things have changed.
Now, Inspiration shows up for me because I’ve proven myself to it. I’ve shown it that I’m serious and that I respect it. I will sit in the chair all damn day if that’s what it takes and Inspiration now knows this about me. It knows I’m not going anywhere. My alarm goes off at 5 AM every morning and I peel myself out of bed to come to the page, and almost always, Inspiration is there waiting for me with an outstretched hand.
Do your part. Show up and Inspiration with meet you where you are.
There’s a quote from the book The War of Art that embodies this sentiment so perfectly.
“The most important thing about art is to work. Nothing else matters except sitting down every day and trying.” — Steven Pressfield
I don’t think of my writing as something that’s going to inspire because it adds this layer of outside pressure that I feel doesn’t serve me or the work that I’m trying to put out into the world. I try to strip outside voices and internal doubts away and write from the rawest place of my heart. If it inspires, wonderful. If it doesn’t, at least I wrote from a sincere, honest place, and in that, I am left feeling fulfilled. And at the core of my being, I write because I have to. It’s in me and I have a responsibility to myself to honor that.
If you’re interested in cultivating a healthy relationship with Inspiration and taking yourself seriously as an artist, I highly recommend these books.
The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks & Win Your Inner Creative Battles by Steven Pressfield
Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert
And for the writers…
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King
Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott
“The more scared we are of a work or calling, the more sure we can be that we have to do it.” — Steven Pressfield
“Failure has a function. It asks you whether you really want to go on making things.” — Elizabeth Gilbert
“Life isn’t a support system for art. It’s the other way around.” — Stephen King
“Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people. It will keep you cramped and insane your whole life, and it is the main obstacle between you and a shitty first draft.” - Anne Lamott