The Writer’s Life: Finding Inspiration

So you’ve got some writing classes under your belt and you want to start your freelance career. You start pitching and writing but you soon find that writing for a living is not the same as writing as a hobby. You spend a lot of time alone. You cover the facts, but pieces lack life and luster. It takes inspiration. So, how do professional writers stay inspired?

Suite101 Feature Writer and published author Guy Lecky-Thompson has several strategies, like “keeping on reading, and seeing what others have to say…I find that at least, if you start, you'll get something done. Even if you just start editing titles, or re-reading a chapter, the hard bit is starting.”

Gertrude Stein said that it takes a whole lot of doing nothing to be a genius. Guy concurs. “Whether it's my publisher, or Suite101, or some freelance work, there are always times when, no matter how lucrative it might be, you just don't feel like writing. The trick is not to do any. To sit down for one half-hour and not do any writing at all. Do some reading, editing, or diagrams for a work in progress, but stay away from writing. After 30 minutes, you're itching to get started, tweaking bits here and there, and then the magic takes over!”

With 7 published titles under his belt, Guy knows how to keep that fire of inspiration burning.

What’s your strategy?

-- Fiona