Inspired Writing

"If you only write when inspired, you may be a fairly decent poet, but you'll never be a novelist." Neil Gaiman

Image courtesy of rose zombie / freedigititalphotos.net

I can't comment on what it takes to be a decent poet, but I do know from first hand experience that waiting for inspiration is a fools game when it comes to writing novels.

I have had plenty of opportunity over the past couple of weeks to put in some dedicated writing time, even if it was just 30 minutes here and there. Unfortunately, inspiration was in short supply and I fell into the trap of doing other things, waiting for the feeling to take hold. Obviously that magical inspiration never came and very little work got done.

I know just as well as anybody that the only way to feel inspired is to start working. When I am busy writing I find that I am flooded with more and more ideas (not always relevant, but I write them down and squirrel them away for later). So why do I, and many others I am sure, keep falling into this trap?

Maybe it's because we are worn out and need a break, or maybe we just want to goof off for a while and it's easier to tell ourselves it's because we need inspiration to write. Whatever the reason, this week I am making a concerted effort to create my own inspiration and gets words down on paper/screen.

How about you? Do you only write when inspired, or do you become inspired by writing in the first place?