Finding Inspiration
“Never write yourself empty.”
- Ernest Hemmingway
If you are a writer, an artist, a composer of music, really any passion that calls for creativity, there are times where ideas flow from you like a fire hose, and then there are times where you are stuck in the middle of a creative desert.
When I am bursting with ideas, I call it being “in the spirit”. My muse is working inside me and is pushing ideas out, sometimes faster than I can write them down. These are high energy times for me. I have trouble sleeping because I need to get them out. I can’t wait to get back to writing.
The thing that keeps me from writing till I am empty is something I read from Ernest Hemmingway. The great writer said, “Never write yourself empty.” Because of this advice, I always leave a little something on the plate when I close down my office for the day. It is hard sometimes. I want to finish the idea to the end. But the next day, I am glad I left something to get me started again.
When I have nothing … when the spicket runs dry, I say that I am “in a drought”. These are the times that I can’t come up with anything. This will happen a couple times a year. They can last a day or a month or longer. To make sure I don’t miss any “deadlines” (self-imposed) I will build up a surplus of Blogs, Articles, Short Ideas, Future Speaking Outlines, Thursday Thoughts, Blog Excerpts and all of the social media writing that I do. This library of information is like a big security blanket. I never feel like I “have to” do anything to stay up to date.
If something does come up, like a last-minute speaking opportunity, I am a great “pressure” worker. Some of my best work has come at the spur of the moment. But when I look back, I know I could have done better had I few more days or weeks to really hone in on a subject. But in the moment I have a great talent to step up and “hit the ball”. I have found that in these situations I needed to just give the “facts” and didn’t give myself time to “over-think” the presentation.
I learned a great lesson working with my book’s amazing editor, Katie Rios; great writing doesn’t have to be hidden in 10,000 words. Sometimes short and to the point leaves a lasting impression. An example of this is that Move or Die started as a 600-page manuscript. Katie took that kettle of words and helped me render them down to 186 pages. She would keep saying, “This is really good, but it doesn’t make the story better, save it for your next book.” With 415 pages on the cutting room floor, I could do a couple more books!
So, what if you are in the “desert”? Where nothing is coming out of your keyboard, your paint brush, your potter’s wheel, your guitar, how do you get the ideas flowing again? Where do you get your inspiration?
FINDING INSPIRATION
When I find myself “drying out” I take a trip to the book store. I don’t head to any specific section; I just wander around. I allow my mind to clear and just start taking in titles and covers of books. I’m not leading the process but letting the process surround me. When I do this, I start to see words and ideas that I might have not considered. This is different than if I were “hunting” for an idea.
Hunting for an idea is like looking for a last-minute gift. You never seem to find what you’re looking for and you end up settling for something to get you out of the store. I am a terrible shopper. When I go “shop” I know what I want and where I will get it. I go in, walk to the section of the store, find it, buy it and go home.
When I go looking for inspiration, I take my time. I never set a time limit. I just walk around until I feel that I have done my due diligence.
When I am looking for inspiration, I find that ideas find me. I roll them around in my head as I wander some more. If they don’t spark a clear subject line, I keep moving. Nine out of ten times I will walk out with a book, or three or at least the outline of a new idea.
PERSPECTIVE IS EVERYTHING
My good friend, Scott Christensen, is an amazing artist. The best in the world, in my opinion. We went to an art gallery in Seattle. As we walked around, I noticed he was looking, not at the painting but at something different than I was.
I asked him, “What do you think of this piece?”
He looked at me kind of strange and said, “I don’t know, what do you see?”
I talked about the subject of the painting, it was a coastal painting, water, sand, rocks, waves sun, clouds. He nodded like he hadn’t considered this.
He then said, “Did you notice the frame that they used? The dark frame muted the artists intent in the painting.”
We walked around for a while, and he showed me the difference a frame made in allowing the subject and the artist talent come to the surface.
For Scott the Gallery was inspiring his technique and nuances. For me it was the subject of the work of art. My point being: creativity is a crazy thing and is all based on a person’s perspective.
Since creativity is so different finding your inspiration can be different. One might find inspiration in a quiet space, others in a crowded bar or mall. Some might find it sitting by themselves in a room, others might find it at a concert.
OTHER SOURCES
· Watch a Documentary: If not in a book store then I will watch a documentary on a subject that I’ve never considered. Sometimes learning new ideas will open paths to new insights.
· Go On Line: I was given a website by my web designer, Cecilia Roy, that has free photos to download and use in some of my social media posts. This website is full of all sorts of pictures. I can look through these and find five subjects for future writings just from the picture. It pushes a button or a memory of a great story that I might have forgotten that helped me through a hard time or helped me learn, so I could move farther down my path.
· Call a Friend: I quite often have new ideas come up while I am talking to an old friend. We’ll start talking about people or places and it will remind me, again, of things that have affected my life, both positively and negatively. Many times, it’s the negative things that left the deepest impressions in our lives. And these impressions have attached to them the greatest lessons. A lot of my successful memories have a clear path … the harder you work, the harder you celebrate!
· New View: In my first year in my new house, I sat looking in one direction while I was in my “Outer Office” (my covered patio in AZ). I got stuck. My dad came over for coffee and he took “my seat”. I sat in another spot and it was like the dam was opened. The new view refreshed my “Spirit” and I started to write … a lot! Just the change in views sparked something. Thanks pops!
· Re-Schedule: My normal way of working was to get up and go out to my Outer Office and start to work. This worked fine until it didn’t. After a while I began to feel like I was in a rut. To break this routine, I changed my daily schedule. In my new schedule I go to a local gym and workout for an hour and a half. After finishing my workout, I headed out to my table and started working. The fire hose was open. The new schedule, along with going to an outside gym, and not just training in my garage, opened my mind to new people, new sites and sounds. When I do go dry, I change up the order of my daily work schedule. This is a quick jump start to my day.
Creativity is within all of us. We just need to jump start it sometimes. No one can keep pouring out content. Even the great writers will take, sometimes, years between their books. Not because they are too busy, but because it takes a while to find the “spirit” to write the amount they do.
Don’t see a “drought” as a bad thing. It can be frustrating or it can be a signal that you need to find some inspiration or a change. Change is not a bad thing. Change is an evolution in your thinking. It’s growth. As we grow, we become deeper in how we think. We see things through new lenses. We gain perspective.
All of this is good. Continue to move forward in your creative life. As goes your creativity so goes your life! Have an amazing day!
