Near Mint Mill

There’s what I need to write, want to write and what inspiration wants me to write. The problem arises when inspiration is lacking or inspiration does not line up with one of the other two.

Mondays I typically need to provide Cross with the next Sov scene. Procrastination, much to the frustration of others, is a defining characteristic of my being. So I typically wait until she asks me if it’s done before I bang it out.

Every second Tuesday I need to write one of these. As the above problem, coupled with an inability to think of what to write until the deadline is here means it does not get done well ahead of time. Yet when the time comes I can focus enough that it does not take that long to get something I deem halfway decent to post and get positive comments for how good it is by others. Personal expectations versus reality, because as I’ve stated previously, I hate everything I write.

Each day of the week, on top of the above, I have to do my own personal writing. If I was on top of my tasks and not victim to the self induced problem of extreme stalling, I could probably bang these out pretty quickly each morning. But that is never something I want to write, just want my brain thought was cute to wake up too. So I’ll go about my day doing anything else but thinking about what to write until I’m too tired to function and just want to go to bed.

That’s where help comes in. Cross tries to have me write about whatever couple or person she is wanting to read, but that never pans out for her well. That’s because the internet provides me with the occasional flash of inspiration. AskReddit answers, funny gifs, memes you name it I will most likely be able to link it to someone and if it really makes me chuckle I’ll write it out.

Now if I am a truly lucky Uncle I will facetime or hear a story of my niece and/or nephew. They are both still young enough that for ninety percent of the time they are adorable. As my brain jumps through time and space in the Sov I can always find that one family that embodies my niece and nephew’s latest adventure perfectly. It also helps me write kids better since I don’t have any myself.

Real life is definitely the best form of inspiration. You are better able to relate to what your writing because you understand the emotions behind it. The image or in my case ‘mini movie’ in my head is much more defined.

The trick with the internet or consuming other forms of media is to not consume so much that depression sets in. There are rabbit holes that you can go down that will be detrimental to your health. Specifically the social media ones if you start comparing your life to others. This is not to be your life versus theirs, but the lives of your characters and those can be as fanciful as they need to be.

We use our worlds, our characters to escape, as a coping mechanism to work through things that happen to us in reality. There is a balance needed to attain the necessary inspiration to write without losing yourself down those rabbit holes.

That sweet spot exists but more often than not, I am stuck in that lack of enough inspiration to write anything state. So today was all about inspiration because it is the ficklest of mistresses. And we only get to wish for those at christmas.

Go out get inspired and create!