(Un)Inspired

Introduction

This is just about how I deal with the times that I sometimes think that I have nothing to write about. As I pen this I look outside my window and see the sun in a very blue sky, seagulls wheeling, and trees and flowers, as well as birds feeding and the odd cat and dog wandering by.

So immediately I have written fifty words on what many people would dismiss as not being worth writing about, but I have got a few words down, which I think are worth recording.

Do We Need A Prompt?

We all need a reason to write and often we can take various things as a prompt to kick off our creations. I find Vocal Challenges usually a great source for prompts. The Painted Prose one was brilliant for me resulting in fourteen stories but the Past Life and Pitch Your Pilot didn't do much for me but I still submitted two entries.

As I have said before, conversation with friends primes me to write and then I just need the prompt to start the words flowing.

On Vocal we have forty-four communities, and while I think some of them could be merged because they are so similar, even the names of the communities can prompt you to write a story.

Conversations with friends can cause prompts to write stories and often take you far into what you desire to create.

If you check out Vocal's Resources there are several articles with prompts for various types of writing.

There are times when I want to write and have ideas but whether it's my own laziness or lack of confidence in myself I find it difficult to put pen to paper, or rather finger to keyboard.

In these situations, I take myself out for a walk (weather and health permitting) or play some music (either on a player or by picking up an instrument), maybe watch some television or read a magazine or a book or some Vocal stories, and that then frees me to create. I don't know if it's just me who feels this way and is affected like this. Hopefully, this will give creators pointers and ideas.

Creating A Serial Hook

It is an idea to have an idea that you can develop and reuse, maybe create it into an ongoing and possibly never-ending serial.

My friend ad Vocal Sister Melissa has a letter series "Dear Best Friend" which is great to read. All stand alone but are part of a lovely series.

With inspiration and prompting from my friend Dharrsheena, I did a series of dark poems which I eventually turned into a book that contained everything in the series.

I do quite a lot of playlists and album reviews and interviews with artists that I meet, and they can be found on my profile.

More recently I have started my Plagiaristic Poetry series where I take existing words to start off lines in various poetry forms. I am hoping this will result in another book, but I need to write at least fifty poems before I can put them together in an anthology. You can read about the idea with initial examples here.

An Inspiring Conclusion

I know that I am one of the lucky ones. I can always focus my mind to write about something, even if it is writing about having nothing to write about.

If you are ever hit by writer's block I, and many others are always here to help you deal with that and get you creating. Never cut yourself off, always ask, and people like me will give their time to help you.