I know this one is going to hurt, because it hurt me too, but inspiration is not your problem, although you would like to think it is.
The reason that you haven’t created something isn’t because the room is too hot or cold, your computer is too dark or too bright, or even because “you’re just not feeling it now.”
The reason is…well, we’ll get to that. First, I want to tell you about how I got to it.
I went somewhere new this weekend, somewhere beautiful and thought-provoking. And I wasn’t trying to write or even document any part of my trip. Of course, even though I wasn’t trying to, doesn’t necessarily mean that I wasn’t. I was just barely noticing the stream of words that were babbling by in my head, little lines from potential poems or half written articles for imaginary magazines. It had been awhile, I admit, but they were definitely there.
And when I returned from my trip, the words were still there. They’re there now. It’s just that I haven’t done anything with them. I haven’t allowed myself the time to write them down. To see what they could eventually be.
So, no. Inspiration isn’t the problem. Take a foot off your trodden, routine path and you will find inspiration. Heck, even look hard enough at the mundane and you can find the extraordinary.
But what you can’t find so easily? The time to dedicate to your inspiration. But that’s the most important thing. Without doing something, you’ll never know how good you are. And without practice, you’ll never know how good you can be.
So, chase inspiration. But ask it to leave you alone when the time is right to sit down and make use of your muses.
Bailey Dailey 