Waiting for Inspiration
- Sometimes you might look back over something you’ve written and think, “That was an inspired piece of writing.”
- Yes – it can happen. Inspiration can come and the writing just flows – and it’s beautiful – and it stands the test of time. It can amaze you years after it is written. Did I really write that?
- One thing you learn early if you are a serious writer is that most times you cannot sit around waiting for inspiration. Most times it just won’t come. You just have to start writing. That is one of the things I have learnt quickly as a serious blogger over the last few months.
- Don’t wait for inspiration to arrive – go out and meet it.
- Grab it by the throat. Get writing. Anything. Get into the habit of writing every day – whether you feel like it or not, whether feeling inspired or not.
- The following quote says it well:
- “Inspiration is wonderful when it happens, but the writer must develop an approach for the rest of the time…The wait is simply too long.”
- Leonard Bernstein (1918 -1990)
LibraryThing
It’s amazing what you find on the internet.
I was reading a blog about good blog design. As you do.
This led me to a series of blogs that seemed to be really well designed – naturally.
Clear. Easy to read. Interesting. Informative.
As they should be.
Then one had a listing of books the author had recently added to his Library Catalogue. This linked to another page called LibraryThing. It’s a library cataloguing system. Brilliant in concept, simple to use and so useful.
In another life I was a school librarian for eight years. I love books. I read every day. No day is complete without reading. I have a BIG and GROWING collection of books. So does my wife.
Every so often I have to make another bookshelf to hold all the books. We have books about birds, travel, gardening, plants, flowers, Christianity, reference, novels, picture books, humour, history and the list goes on.
Now I could very easily get hooked on cataloguing all our books. I’ve been threatening to do that for about 25 years. Now – where do I get all that time that would be necessary to achieve this worthwhile task?
Until then – I’ll just use shelve them like they’ve always been shelved – non-fiction in approximately subject order, fiction alphabetically by author.
And I’ll find them using the Biblical System – “Seek And Ye Shall Find.”
Literary Magazine
Last year I decided to subscribe to a few more literary magazines. This I regard as a vital part of my inservice training as a writer. It enables me to get a feel for what kinds of things are being published these days. This will help me to decide where to send my poems, short stories and essays.
I have just finished reading and enjoying the summer 2005 issue of Island, a fine little magazine publshed in Tasmania. It contained an excellent mix of fiction, reviews, essays and poetry. At 128 pages long it is quite a feast of reading.
I have read that if every writer subscribed to just three literary magazines each, the small magazines of Australia would be thriving and going from strength to strength. I currently have eight subscriptions. That is in addition to just as many other periodicals, like birding and geographic magazines.
I’m doing my bit – how about you?
For more information go to Island magazine’s web site here.