That is a very interesting piece of observation. Yet it is
a profound fact of the creative life. If you are empty, ideas
will not occur. No idea, no work. Creative artists sometimes
struggle for months and years, even in the middle of their
fame, walking in a mental wilderness without inspiration.
How can a writer or a poet or any creative artist be inspired
again? Here are a few tips from artists who have been
through it all!
1. ‘Read, read, read. Read everything, trash, classics, good
and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who
works as an apprentice and studies the most. Read! You’ll
absorb it. Then write. If it is good, you’ll find out. If it’s not,
throw it out the window.’ William Faulkner.
2. ‘Art is not a handicraft. It is the transmission of a feeling
which the artist has experienced.’ Leo Tolstoy. If you have
not experienced feeling and emotion yourself, how will you
write and sing about it? Will those moving insights come to
you as you sit at a writing desk year after year?
3. ‘Dreams are illustrations from the book your soul is writing
about you.’ Marsha Norman. Your dreams can be a fertile
bank of ideas to write on. Keep a notebook by your bedside
and jot those dreams down before they fade away like
gossamer.
4. ‘Free writing. One of the best ways to get unstuck
if you’re uninspired. Just start writing. Anything. It doesn’t
matter. Don’t edit, don’t pause, don’t think. Just write and
let it flow.’ Leo Babauta. Before you know it, a story will
take shape before your eyes. It was there all along in your
mind waiting for your hand to rise.
5. ‘Serendipity is the art of making an unsought finding’.
Pek Van Andel. Do not be afraid to tread the unbeaten path,
the road less taken. A branching off from your main idea may
lead you to greater things and unsought gold. Just follow
your instinct. Art is not an ironclad discipline. It is a lithe
fairy that dances after the light.
You now know what it takes to find inspiration and how to
become an inspiration to others as well.
