What inspires you? It seems like such a generic question, in fact in my opinion it is but that doesn’t take away from the weight of the answer. Whatever you’re creative pursuit or interest may be, in my case its writing, inspiration forms the cornerstone, the foundation of that pursuit. Personally I feel that writing cannot be forced, that’s not to say you have to sit around waiting to be inspired, heavens no otherwise I’d never get any writing done, well no serious writing anyway. What I am getting at is that often we hit that wall, that damn brick wall that you can really run hard into. As you pick yourself up to look at the damage, all around you is stale material and old debris from the last time you brought down the wall.
When I look at the debris, I am reminded of what it was that brought down that wall time and time again – that wall that says your material is dry or uninteresting, that wall that prevents you from coming up with anything new. That wall that says “you aint good enough”, you see writers block isn’t just not being able to come up with anything new or an inability to continue a piece of work its more than that, it’s everything negative that impedes your ability to write at all – what brought down that wall time and time again is inspiration, passion for what you do, the captivating feeling of imagination and wonder at the world around you. Wonder and imagination for the creative pursuit you love and hate.
Personally, the trick to bringing down that wall, to writing, is continually being inspired, always finding something new you want to try out, something new to express or explore. Creative pursuits are often a means to understanding or expressing ones feelings and thoughts about the world around us. If we are not inspired by what surrounds us, if we are not at all in the slightest caught up in the wonder of the world; how at all can we write in a way that will affect other people or at least write in a way that stays with a person? Even if that wonder or inspiration comes from the darkest corners of the world or the brightest stars of space, inspiration comes in many shapes and forms and often we do not even realise when we are indeed inspired we simply feel and urge. An itch to engage with our creative passions, or even our passions for life itself, so when I hit that wall, that ever high and mighty wall that looks down on me with contempt, I look around at all the debris before me, all the debris that I have left behind me and I think to myself what inspires me?
Sometimes we are inspired by anger, love, hatred, compassion, empathy, jealousy or envy. Sometimes we are inspired by injustice, equality, progress, science, inspirations touch is inescapable; for it’s not just a cornerstone for creative pursuits, inspiration carries us throughout life. We are inspired by books, movies, poems and art. The best way to bring down that wall, is not just remembering ones creative inspiration such as ones materialistic and aesthetic inspiration, we need also look to life, and remind ourselves of what it is in life that inspires us. What is it about living that inspires us?
You can see how that creative wall we hit, translates also into life itself. Often when one is facing writers block, writers block isn’t the problem, writers block is the symptom of an uninspired life.
JS.
Jotunn Symposium 