I got an email today amongst my many emails that I never read. This one was from a writing blog I subscribed to a while ago. The subject line for this particular email read "You should be writing..." to which I immediately thought "I know, I know." I opened the email, though, which I only do once in a blue moon. The basis of the email was that they were asking people to submit things that inspired them to write. I didn't submit anything, but I did start thinking about what inspires me.
There are a lot of different things that inspire me to write, and some of it depends on what mood I'm in. One of the things I thought of while looking at this email was that being really tired tends to inspire me to write. I wonder if maybe that happens because I stop thinking about what is reasonable or rational or what will sound good, and I just write. This is slightly problematic, however, because by the time I'm halfway through with what I'm writing I can barely keep my eyes open and I would much rather go to sleep than finish whatever scene I'm working on. Despite this, it does have at least one added bonus. Usually when I write like this I'm so tired my eyes are practically closed and after I'm done I immediately turn my light off and fall asleep. The awesome part of this is that when I wake up I remember that I've written something, but I don't remember what it was so I re-read the things I wrote the previous night as if I'd never seen them before. Which is quite helpful in the editing process.
Another thing that inspires me is being in different places. Whenever I'm on a long road trip, I find myself journalling pages at a time without a problem, which is not something I can normally do without smacking myself multiple times and saying "YOU NEED TO WRITE SOMETHING SO YOUR BRAIN DOESN'T FALL OUT." or something equally dramatic. But when I'm away from home, I find writing inspiration everywhere. I don't even have to be that far away. I can walk down my street to Panera and be much more motivated there than I am at my own kitchen table. Part of it might be a new environment where I more alert than I am often at home. But that's just my working hypothesis.
I also love to people-watch. People are just so interesting to me. And sometimes someone I see will stick out to me as a fascinating person. Whether they really are or not, I'm intrigued by them and I make these elaborate back stories in my head about what they're like and what they do for a living and I sort of take these real people I meet and make them into characters in my head. I start thinking about whether this person/character would like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and if they prefer to drive with the windows down or the AC on. Just little things that make up characters. It's good exercise for my brain.
What inspires your hobby? Is there anything that anti-inspires you? (aka gives you the whatever-your-hobby-is version of writer's block.)
Until next time inspiration strikes,
Lisa
