Whatever the project might be, have you ever noticed how time passes, and you never find the time to get started?
Those embroidered table napkins you were going to do for your sister’s anniversary present are still a pile of linen. That goal of reading all of Jane Austen’s books again fell by the wayside. For writers, creative projects usually mean a book written “just for the fun of it” to see if, maybe, you can pull together a book in a different genre.
Why couldn’t you find the time to do what you wanted to do? Maybe you were inspired, but the inspiration cooled, and, suddenly, the project looked more like work than fun.
SECRET TO ACHIEVEMENT
You may have heard me quote Rita Dove, former Poet Laureate of the United States. She said, “If you wait for inspiration, inspiration’s going to go away and look for more fertile ground to work with.”
The way too many writers work is the way most people work on anything drawn from the imagination—they wait for the “muse” to commune with them. However, there’s something all these people don’t know that publishing authors have learned. Inspiration comes to those who work consistently, every day, on the creative project.
Why couldn’t you find the time to do what you wanted to do? Maybe you were inspired, but the inspiration cooled, and, suddenly, the project looked more like work than fun.
SECRET TO ACHIEVEMENT
You may have heard me quote Rita Dove, former Poet Laureate of the United States. She said, “If you wait for inspiration, inspiration’s going to go away and look for more fertile ground to work with.”
The way too many writers work is the way most people work on anything drawn from the imagination—they wait for the “muse” to commune with them. However, there’s something all these people don’t know that publishing authors have learned. Inspiration comes to those who work consistently, every day, on the creative project.
The way to get your brain to spew words like an old-fashioned water pump is to keep the pump primed. If you don’t know how an old cast iron water pump works, let me explain.
The pump has a long, cast iron handle. You pump the handle up and down vigorously. After a few seconds of pumping, water spurts out—unless the pump hasn’t been used in a long time.
If the pump isn’t used regularly, you may have to pump and pump until your arm muscles scream in protest, and you’re out of breath. It takes a long time for water to spew out. In fact, the pump may have to be primed by pouring water into it. That will start it pumping water out again.
That’s how writing works. When you write every day, it’s easy to get that outpouring of words. An easy way to prime the writing pump is to leave a scene unfinished so you'll immediately get into it the next day. You can also read over what you wrote the day before and then dive in.
That’s how writing works. When you write every day, it’s easy to get that outpouring of words. An easy way to prime the writing pump is to leave a scene unfinished so you'll immediately get into it the next day. You can also read over what you wrote the day before and then dive in.
TAKEAWAY TRUTH
Avoid writing every now and then or only when inspired because it will take a lot longer to get the words flowing.
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