3 Unbelievable Sources to Find Writing Inspiration
The last one is a bit crazy
Writing is not that hard. But writing consistently for a long time is.
It only proves that making a career out of writing or even a side hustle is not for everyone. It requires you to write an insane amount of words for an insane amount of time before you even see the tiniest result.
That’s only possible when you know where to find your writing inspiration. Training your mind to constantly develop new ideas can be daunting at the beginning. But it becomes easier with time. Creativity is a muscle. Train it a certain way for a while and you’ll see the miraculous ways it works for you.
Journaling, reading, consuming the right content online, etc are great ways to find writing ideas. But sometimes, it’s not enough.
I’m here to tell you some of the unconventional sources of writing inspiration that have helped me in my 3 years of writing online.
- Be with Nature.
I recently came back from a week-long vacation to my native village which also happens to have lots of beaches and is well-known in my state for world-class mangoes.
The crazy part?
I didn’t know how badly I needed this vacation until I went for one. Travel does crazy things to a creative mind. I didn’t write a word in that entire week and my clinic was closed, which meant absolutely zero work stress.
I felt so relaxed for the first time after months. Spending hours with family, visiting different spots, and munching on mangoes almost every day was bliss.
Walking with my husband on the beach at the time of sunset every evening, almost felt like a dream, especially as we hardly get this much time together back in the city.
More importantly, it gave my mind a much-needed break. In this productivity war, we often forget that creativity is a mind game.
Your mind needs to be relaxed to be able to create good stuff.
By the end of my vacation, my mind was bustling with new ideas for my articles and clinic! I was almost craving to get back to work!
The next time, you struggle to find writing ideas or inspiration, know that it’s a sign. Your mind is telling you it needs rest. And as your best employee, it deserves all the rest in the world.
Don’t ever hesitate to take a break and be with nature.
Maybe not a full-blown vacation every month but an hour-long walk in the woods daily might be all you need!
2. Meaningful conversations
A few years ago, I had a random conversation with my maid. Her daughter had just passed out of school and the maid was looking for something productive she could do in her 3 month long vacation.
My maid knew I was doing ‘something’ online. She asked me what her daughter could do online, who also has a thing for art.
I told her a couple of ways she can explore her passion for painting and Mehndi design (traditional Indian tattooing) using Instagram.
I felt so good about this unexpected conversation. In a third-world country, my barely-educated maid was thinking of unconventional ways to help her daughter explore her passion. I was so inspired by that conversation that I made a LinkedIn post about it which was well received.
Such meaningful conversations, when articulated well online, have a greater potential to create a shift in the way the audience thinks.
It’s because these conversations are real, not some made-up stories. They show that a real change is possible in this world. It gives hope!
And hope is often the difference between failure and success.
If you can give hope through your writing, you’re making a dent in this universe, even though you may not see it upfront.
Leverage your day-to-day conversations to share a bigger message. One that has the power to create positive shifts in the thinking of your readers.
This brings me to the last point.
3. Thinking
It’s ridiculous, right? I mean, often, creators tell you to avoid thinking and just keep publishing.
And here is some crazy creator telling you to think more to find inspiration for writing.
Well, I understand your confusion. But hear me out.
Thinking deep is the most powerful way to extract a goldmine of ideas to write about. Whenever you read a book, how much of it do you really retain?
Hardly 20%. It’s because, nowadays, we’re caught up in this weird race to read the maximum number of books in a month. The more books you read, the more credible you become.
I don’t believe in this 1%.
To use those ideas in the book in your writing, your reading should be exploratory, not just another mechanical task.
And exploration requires you to think hard. Let’s say you read an intriguing paragraph. You find it fascinating.
Instead of rushing to the next sentence, stop for a while. Think- What does this paragraph mean to you?
How do you interpret it in your own way? If required, make notes about these ideas.
You may read fewer books, but you will retain them better.
Do the same with articles you read, podcasts you listen to, any social media content you consume, and most importantly, your life experiences.
Once you mentally explore every noteworthy idea and experience this way, it becomes easier to use those same ideas to write a piece that’s still pretty authentic, because you’ve made an effort to think about your own interpretation of that idea.
Gone are the days, when you could copy and paste an idea from the book and still get noticed.
People have a lot of information today. What they need is the connection.
When you think hard about the things you consume and use your perceptions to write, it’s only a matter of time until the audience sees you as an authority.
Finally,
All things said none of the above will matter if you don’t care enough for your craft and your audience.
If you’re in this just for the bucks, you’re not in this for a long time.
Sure, pay attention to the business side of things, but there is no point obsessing over complex strategies if you don’t have a business in the first place.
Write for the sake of the art. Write because you care. Write because you want to make an impact.
Write for the sheer fulfillment you get from it. Everything else will follow.
Best of luck!
Want to improve your craft? Join Creator’s Cubby where I share everything I’ve learned about writing online, building an audience, and more.
