What inspires you the most as a writer? Are you the kind of writer that has to sit in front of a computer screen for twelve hours sweating blood just to string together two decent sentences? Or are you one of those creative souls that can just pour forth colourful words at will without even breaking a sweat?
Personally, as a writer, I regularly fluctuate between the two. There are days when I wake up and feel an unusual kind of tingling in my fingertips. On those God-given days, I race to my computer and feel as though I can time-travel back through history and land right in the middle of the Harlem renaissance. On such days, I’m on fire! Not only do I become prolific and efficient, but my writing begins to flow with a rare elegance. I can look back, re-read my work, and just smile contentedly to myself.
But then there are days when my ideas turn to dust. My mind becomes an abandoned desert. Actually that’s putting it mildly. My mind becomes more of a sun-burnt dirt patch that words seem unable to grow out of! At such times, my thoughts drift away like loose sand from a sand dune. Instead of focusing on writing beautiful prose, I find myself staring at the patterns in the ceiling and pondering wonderfully complex issues like: the true composition of snot!
Inspiration is to a writer what water is to a flower garden. Without it every storyline or book idea will wilt and eventually die. That’s why I’ve written this blog post. You see, most of my inspiration comes from fellow writers with the guts and gumption to just ‘throw down’ and commit their thoughts and ideas to paper. That’s why you must finish your masterpiece. I need your insights. I need your foresight. I need the gory details of your remarkable journey. My friend…I need your light!
By Michael Ekwulugo (Author of It’s Your Time (your generation awaits you)