Why let inspiration bully you any longer? Well, I've got news for you. Inspiration is over. And I don't know about you, but I'm done letting it bounce out of my reach. I'm done letting it be the boss of me.

It's time for us to be the ones to hit inspiration for a change. And that steel hammer looks like a good tool to start with.

Striking inspiration isn't fun. It's hard. It's like slugging through a river of cold butter. So in order to take a stand against this annoying inspiration beast, you're going to have to get over some things.

It won't be perfect.

The words you're grinding out are going to be ugly. They're going to sound like a toddler wrote them. The story you're crafting in this state is going to be riddled with plot holes.

In short, it's all going to stink. A lot.

But you've taken a step. You've gotten somewhere. You now have ground on which to stand. You have a starting point. And I can guarantee you that the next draft will be better than the last one.

In order to push through and hammer down inspiration, you have to remember ...

It won't be fun.

Writing without inspiration is unpleasant. You want to pull your hair out sometimes. You want to slam your head against the keyboard. You want to scream until your throat is hoarse. You'll be thinking, "What happened to the days of carefree, easy writing?"

Not only will it not be perfect or fun.

It won't be easy.

Someone (I'm not sure who originally said it) once said, "If writing was easy, everyone would do it." That's true about everything, isn't it? If painting was easy, we'd all be painters. If hockey was easy, we'd all be hokey players. Breathing is easy, and we all breathe, right?

But the easy things are the things people don't really look for. People don't seek out others who can breathe because everyone can do it.

When you don't have inspiration, you're going to sit at that keyboard and stare at that page and nothing. is. going. to. come. And it's going to be so frustrating. But take a deep breath and just start. Write about what your character had for breakfast. Write some of their thoughts. What's their best childhood memory? How many siblings did their best friend have? What's their biggest regret, and what in the story made them think of it and wish once again to change it?

Write garbage. Write trash. WRITE. And it'll flow eventually.

Sit down with your notebook and list all the plot holes. Don't wait for a realization to dawn about how to fix all the plot issues. Sit down and ask those questions, and think of logical answers. Create. Make the solutions come.

It won't be easy. It won't be fun. And it certainly won't be perfect. This attempt to strike inspiration will be grueling and miserable.

But it will be worth it.

It may not feel worth it in the moment. But if you wait for inspiration to write and build your story, you're not going to make much progress. You're going to fly to a gazillion different projects and not know what to work on because your mood changes too quickly. You're going to get nothing done, and you're likely not going to feel very good about it.

So stand up, writers! It's our turn to strike inspiration.


Do you tend to write only when you're inspired? What are some ways you overcome a lack of inspiration?

The reason there's no emotional attachment is because we're not invested in the story yet. We don't know what we want, because we haven't been given any options.

So how do you change that?

There are three integral concepts that are key to emotionally gripping your readers in a scene. There are no doubt tons of others, but I'm going to cover these three today.

I love the way Anne Lamott puts it. "bird by bird." Life is a road, and that road you walk? It's full of steps. One step doesn't seem to carry you far, and sometimes it's a small, halting step. But that step is one of many, and without them, you'd be right in the same place you started.

Let yourself be while you do. Take life on step at a time, bird by bird, and remember in the meantime that you're a human being. So be.


This is your 895th installment of Hannah's Late Night Rambles. I hope you were able to make sense of my brain thoughts XP

Are you swamped with to-do's? Are you studying your road? Or are you charging ahead with your head down? Maybe it's time for you to try looking up.

The reason I can't remember who first said it is because once the author stated it, every single one of them adamantly agreed.

Think about this, guys. Four NYT bestselling authors on a panel, and they all agreed that living needs to come before writing. Why is that?

We are writers, after all. We live to write.

Right?

Let's imagine that scenario. Your friends say, "Hey, so-and-so! Do you want to come to this cool park with us and hike?"

There are two outcomes.

You could say no. Then all your friends go without you. You'll probably hear some stories when you're hanging out about this owl that they saw on the trail and how so-and-so tripped and almost fell off a steep slope into the woods. You'll feel a little lonely, but it's that familiar writer loneliness. You made a sacrifice, and you got that chapter edited.

Or you could say yes. You could go on the hike. You could mess around and laugh and explore with your friends. You could breathe fresh air and look at the trees and see that owl. You would experience life first-hand.

Yeah, writing is wonderful. But writing will always be there. Your friends, the chance to go on that hike ... that only happens once. Sure, there are other hikes in the future. But each day is different. That opportunity cannot be exactly replicated.

Often, using time I could spend writing doing something else feels like a waste to me. I have this nagging sensation in my throat that says, You need to be editing.

But at this conference, I had to rethink that. And as we were focusing so much on publication, I got to thinking ...

What's the rush?

Why do I need to edit as fast as possible? Yes, I want to get my book published. But my book will always be there, waiting for me. The opportunities that come your way won't. They come and go, and if you don't snatch them up, you'll miss a lot of amazing experiences. Experiences are what bring our writing to life. Doing and seeing amazing parts of this world will bring color and richness and life into your stories.

There is a balance to find between living and never writing at all. You do want to make time for writing. But don't sacrifice every opportunity you have to do something in the world for the sake of more writing time. There are other times you can get some words down without having to give up your life.

So step outside today. Take a deep breath, and look at the world around you. Why are you rushing to write your book? I know a lot of people are getting published, and blog tours are floating all around the blogging community. That's amazing! Don't get me wrong -- that's so wonderful. But just because other people are getting published does not mean you need to rush to do the same.

Enjoy life before contracts and agents and editors. Let yourself write what you love, and let yourself live.

And now I will spam you with a few pictures from the workshop. (you were waiting for them - admit it) XP

my first time flying commercially!

My cousin and I treated my bunny to his own seat and complimentary airline peanuts. He was pleased.

Chilling with Aimee and Kristana and talking about bookish things.

It's a little blurry, but this picture cracks me up. On the right is Shannon Hale, then moving to the left we have Sabaa Tahir and Ally Condie. All at a table, talking. And then there's Max, Shannon's son (far left) eating food. He was so funny and his open mic reading was the BEST THING EVER. The whole auditorium was laughing.

Shannon Hale was so amazing! And she didn't slap me when I came up to the table and plopped 8 books down for her to sign. (in my defense, I waited to go last)

We got to meet Jillian Manning, an acquisitions editor for Blink/HarperCollins. She was amazing and wonderful and loves Wonder Woman and cats. #priorities We've also adopted her. Or she's adopted us? Either way, we're all now happily related.

And a group picture of all the lovely humans. It was a great conference.

There are so many more pictures to post, but I'll stop my rambling here. In all, this years MYWW was a wonderful experience. Till next year, Minneapolis!

Do you find yourself in a rush to finish your project? Why do you think you feel that way? What are some ways you combat that?