INSPIRATION

I am curious about this wonderful word 'inspiration'. What it means. Where it comes from. How do you get it?

“immediate influence of God or a god,” especially that under which the holy books were written, from Old French inspiracion “inhaling, breathing in; inspiration,” from Late Latin inspirationem, noun of action from past participle stem of Latin inspirare “inspire, inflame, blow into,” from in- “in” + spirare “to breath”.

Literal sense “act of inhaling” attested in English from 1560’s. Meaning “one who inspires others” is attested by 1867.

Everyone is different and I am curious how others find it.

For me, personally, I can find it in many places. Like captured moments in the early morning, watching the sunrise. By reading books, of all genres and watching great movies or clever TV shows. By working with amazing people, and I am in awe of many of them.

I find being in the company of my husband, who makes me laugh every single day (almost) inspiring.

I find inspiration by chatting with other writers, likeminded people, working side by side, throwing ideas around for possible story lines or working out plot holes and having a laugh at each other and not getting bogged down amongst the serious side of things.

Or, people watching while sitting at a café sipping tea or the occasional coffee. I love a good cup of tea. I love its simplicity. There is nothing pretentious or showy about a simple cup of tea. Although, I do love a coffee as well, but it must be good coffee. There is nothing worse than sipping something that tastes of burnt tar. Coffee must be well rounded and flavoursome and have the right amount of milk froth and sweetness for it to be enjoyable. It is also the showstopper, with its chocolate imprint of a well-turned swirl, or a swizzled chocolate cat or leaf artfully designed on top. Whereas, a cup of tea, preferably from a teapot is warming and nurturing.

I digress…

Inspiration. In its definition means – motivation, spur, stimulation, encouragement, enthusiasm, incentive, revelation, vision, awakening, brainstorm, creativity, illumination, impulse, spark, thought – so many more, the list goes on and on, where does it end. Never!  

Inspiration – noun – according to the Oxford English Dictionary - the process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, especially to do something creative. Or a sudden brilliant or timely idea. 

Working hard for something we don’t care about is called stress. Working hard for something we love is called passion.

I am fortunate and blessed to know many writers; it is an amazing community to be involved. Writers who are well known and well respected. Many writers who are prolific in their work, getting out books each month, and others each year. Some take two years or longer between books, it doesn’t matter the speed with which they work, they are producing wonderful exciting tomes. Writers who have the ability to churn out works of art, in the literary sense, with such ease and creativity coveted by many. 

I wonder, how and from where other writers get their inspiration.

Then there are writers like me, who slog away at it, each word, sentence, or paragraph, laced in blood, sweat and tears. Not to mention, anxiety…oh yes, very much so. Oh, I’m sure the multi-published also deal with those fears too, no one is immune to it.

To say that I am envious of those prolific productive creative wonderful magical awe-inspiring produces of work would be an understatement. However, I am not jealous in a spiteful way, quite the contrary. That is my aspiration. They are what inspire me. They spur me on, and encourage me, as a writer, and to get on with it.

Easier said than done.

I work full time. I have responsibilities. Not to say others don’t, but some of us deal with it differently to others. I get home from a long day at the office and my brain is fried. It is full of stuff. Days are not long enough to be able to do it all. It is often a case of getting home (regularly late), getting dinner organised and then sitting in front of the box, zone out, and do nothing at all (purely out of exhaustion).

Let us not forget social media – it takes time, sometimes way too much of it. Don’t get me wrong, I love social media, I get to see what all my wonderful friends are up to, however, it drains time away from somewhere mystical, like a time sucking demon.  (I wanted to say succubus, but that is a completely different genre of demon…)

Moreover, weekends are not nearly long enough.

Better days are coming. They are called Saturday and Sunday.

So for me, I grab moments. Snippets of time here and there, fifteen to thirty minutes in the morning. The occasional thirty minutes at night, where I either manage a lot or very little, or I get so caught up in my own little world where time disappears and it’s two am and I’ve got to go to work the next day, zombified.  

"If everything seems under control, you’re not going fast enough." (Mario Andretti)

Or, I disappear to the coast house for some quiet me time and I sit out on the balcony and watch the waves crash, searching the horizon for whales and listen to the sounds of the ocean. I hear birds for the first time in weeks. I don’t notice them at home, in the city. They are there. I know they are. They eat the dry dog food and poop under my pergola. Instead, I hear noise. Just rushing noise. Rushing to fulfil responsibilities. Rushing in the mornings, rushing to get to work, rushing at work to meet deadlines and tight timeframes. Rushing to meetings and rushing home again, only to rush into dinner and rush into bed. Noise. Rushing noise.​

"With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts." (Eleanor Roosevelt)
​
I try to get through my weeks without dealing with negativity. That’s not always easy. They are there, sitting in the background, waiting to pounce on your every spoken or written word, on how you look or sound, on what you do or don’t do. Negative people are only happy when they bring you down to their level, so I try to avoid them at all costs. There is no room for that nonsense when you’re searching for inspiration.
 
So, what inspires you? Perhaps it's music? I love listening to music, of all genres… Music soothes the soul. Music is love.
 
“Music and love are the same thing. And if you have music in your life, there will always be love.” (Whitney Houston)
 
So, what about you, what gives you inspiration? I would love to hear from you, so please leave a comment.

Much love, Ruby xxx