Friday, September 22, 2017

Inspiration and Epiphanies

Jack London once said "You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club." 

I totally get it. Sitting around waiting for inspiration to strike isn't productive.  And we all need to be productive to make this writing thing work.  (Hell, to make any venture work.)

My problem most of the time isn't a lack of inspiration - although there is that, too, from time to time.  It's a lack of gumption.  I expend energy writing or editing or marketing, and I need a freakin' nap.  Like a two week long nap.  And when I'm tired, it's harder for me to find the words. 

But like inspiration, I realize I need to go after gumption with a club.  I make myself sit down here and write.  Mostly, those times produce really crappy lame words.  But it's producing words.  Crappy words are still better than no words.  Crappy words can be fixed.

Sometimes, though, something clicks in my head and things fall into place.  An epiphany!  Who needs inspiration or gumption when you have an epiphany.  I had two of those last night.  The first one I had when I was sitting in the living room trying to work up the gumption to work.  It filled my gumption tank and I scurried in here to write about 2K words.  The second one struck after I'd already shut down the 'puter for the night and I forgot to write it down.  Lucky for me, just thinking about having the epiphany made it pop into my head and I wrote it down a couple minutes ago.  Things are falling into place.

Thinking about it now, I guess I got the first epiphany because I was strolling through the jungle of my mind with a club looking for gumption, and I flushed it out.  WHACK.  Brought that sucker down.  The other epiphany was sneakier, but I nailed it, too. 

So, I'm back to writing.  I had hoped to get this first edition done by the end of September.  I don't see that happening, but it's possible.  And if I miss that deadline, I'll be finished soon after.  It's all good. 



4 comments:

  1. My gumption grabbed my inspiration and eloped. I'm waiting for them to get back from the honeymoon. In the meantime, lots and lots of crappy words. But, as you say, I can fix those. ;)

    Glad you found yours, FYI!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well, dang it, tell those two to get back here. Pronto! :hugs: Here's hoping your crappy words turn golden soon.

      Thanks! I'm not saying that what I'm writing is all covered in awesomesauce, but they're words on the page.

      Delete
  2. I'm hunting for my runaway gumption, too. I even have a little inspiration, but I'm so tired all the time, I can barely lift my club to smack my gumption. Getting some words down, but not looking forward to fixing them.

    Hooray for your epiphanies! I hope they keep your tank fueled clear to the finish line!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Must be that time of the year - when gumption takes a vacay. Good job, you, on getting words down when you're out of gas. :hugs:

      Thanks! Here's hoping!

      Delete