Saturday, January 19, 2013

Inspiration... What is it Good For?

Huh! Absolutely nothing! 

Okay, no, I don't really feel that way about inspiration, but you know... That little ditty about war can really be applied to any noun, so it's a bit fun to do so, I think. Anyway, totally not the point I want to make with this post.

Inspiration. It is both the favorite thing and the bane of every writer's existence. Or so the internet would lead you to believe. I'm finding this to be less and less true as my time spent on writing forums across the web grows more. Of course, there are still your hardheaded writers that absolutely refuse to sit down and put a single word into their document if they are not 100% in the mood to do it, struck by the lightning of the gods, and all about their book and nothing but their book. They have their foil, the people that sit down at 5:45a every morning and write 1k. No. Matter. What.

I'd like to think I'm somewhere in between the "divine inspiration" writers and the "come Hell or high water" ones, but in all honesty? I think that's a lie. And most people who know me know that. If you've spent much time talking to me, especially on my days off from the day job, I think it's pretty easy to figure out which one of those two I am, honestly...

One of my favorite things to do is write lists. I know, I'm weird; you don't have to tell me. Every night before bed, I'll go through the list of things that I have left to get done "in the future," add them to the ongoing to-do list I have on Remember the Milk, and assign due dates and priorities and all of that stuff. When I get on the computer the next day, along with the normal sites [email, Twitter, Facebook, WriYe, etc.], I open up RtM and look at all of my tasks. I accomplish what I can in a day, and then I move on. I have a reoccurring daily task of "Write 2k" and I like seeing that get checked off every single day. Because I like lists and I like crossing things off said lists.

The feeling of accomplishment I get when I see there's nothing marked overdue or still needing to be done for today? That's my source of inspiration. Weird, right?

I don't have a muse -- to the aggravation of a fair few of my writerly friends -- and I don't have to be "in the mood" to write, whatever that means. I have to know that I need to get something done, and then... Well, I do it. Simple as that.


1 comment:

  1. I absolutely love RtM. I'm using it daily and add more and more things to it. Plus, I so love the daily emails at 9am. Tis <3

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