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FFW #5: How To Get Inspired To Write When You Feel Frustratingly Flat — New Thoughts On The Use Of The Muse
Waiting and searching for “inspiration” to write is an endless, fruitless hunt that will lead you to believe your imagination is worthless. There is at least one thing the storytelling orators of old and the modern doom-scrolling writer of today have in common: none of us can create in a vacuum.
Getting inspired to write generates an image in our mind, doesn’t it? You wiggle into your chair, open your laptop to a sparkling array of yellow notes, ideas floating through the air like Merlin cleaning a kitchen with magic.
Isn’t it amazing how often that DOESN’T happen? Yeah…
The Real Talk is coming early for this post: I used the word inspiration as bait to get you here. But in truth, I believe the “I” word has become nothing more than another hot internet buzzword meant to move inventory. Whether you’re talking spirituality, creativity, or tech, everyone is hunting for that intangible “thing” we believe we need to create.
In a lot of ways, the word “inspiration” has died.
For the rest of this post, we’re going to leave both the word and the concept behind as much as language will allow.