Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Inspiring and Perspiring.

What pushes me to write? Me, mostly. Sometimes I'll hear the beginning phrase and build off of that. As a writer it's important to have more than divine inspiration or just really good luck, and two elements are quintessential to the writing process.
1. BEING SPONTANEOUS. Always carry writing tools with you. Always be willing to experience new things, meet new people. In any moment inspiration can hit, and I can't even count how many times I scribbled on my hand or a scrap of paper to later build it into a piece I was very proud of. But what's very important with this process is having a really good system to save these papers and to recopy the whole poem onto the computer, as well as having an internet database. An especially helpful database is a google email account, because of the almost unlimited space. The second part of spontaneity is pretty obvious with it's positive side- there are a million subjects to write poems about and if you never meet someone or experience something, you may never be introduced to outward inspiration.
2. KEEPING A SCHEDULE. I know, this contradicts the last point- but not really! Studies show (and no, I won't cite which) that writing every day is the most effective way to push your level of writing forward, as well as to encourage you to write when you don't exactly feel like it. I'm not super good at keeping a writing schedule, but I whole heartedly endorse it.
Well, that's all the advice for today.

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