My friend, if you’ve ever thought you need inspiration to strike in order to write your book, let me tell you about inspiration.
LET ME TELL YOU.
We’ve been sold a lie by antique romantic poets who — let’s be honest — were all off their tits on opium.
They told us we had to have a muse.
They told us the muse might, if we were very lucky and measured up to whatever esoteric standards muses use, favour us and zap us with inspiration.
They told us the whole creativity thing was out of our hands. A supernatural act of divinity.
/Morpheus mode on
🕶️ Puts on magic sunnies 🕶️
What if I told you that you don’t have to wait for a magic sky fairy to give you permission to create? And you could be inspired any damn time you like?
Okay, let’s be real — maybe not EVERY time you like because brain’s gonna brain…
But how does MOST OF THE TIME sound?
Isn’t it much better to be in control of when we’re inspired, instead of leaving it up to fate or whatever?
Instead, I subscribe to the Terry Pratchett model of inspiration: ideas are sleeting through the universe absolutely everywhere, right now. Like cosmic rain.
We don’t have to wait for inspiration, or summon it, or be deserving of it.
It’s just there. Ideas raining down on us.
All we have to do is lower our shields and let it in.
(But Captain, we’ll get fried!)
(No we won’t. Trust me. Lower the shields. Make it so.)
I’m interested in just about everything, which means I see ideas everywhere.
I capture them in journals and commonplace books.
I jot them on my hands and arms, speak them into my Star Trek-esque watch.
Then, whenever I’m stuck on what to write about, there’s an idea.
Be interested in everything, and record as much as you can.
When I’m writing a book, I don’t just head out into the barren wilderness of the blank page; I have tools I use to inspire myself to write.
It’s okay to use tools to get inspired. It’s not cheating.
It’s okay to use tools to help you start — and write — your book.
Here are 3 tools you can use that won’t cost you a penny, and one that will cost you a bunch of pennies but which you’ll love.
- Your notebook and pens/pencils: write down everything you see, hear, or read that interests you or surprises you or makes you sad or happy or angry or excited.
- Talk to strangers (or at least eavesdrop on other people’s conversations): talking to strangers fills me with horror but I’ve almost never regretted doing it. When I don’t feel up to pretending to be a normal human, I simply turn into a creeper and listen in on conversations people have in public. You hear the darndest things.
- Get someone to ask you questions about the book you want to write, and answer them — you’ll find you soon have plenty to write about.
Or, you could get help from a professional like me. Perhaps with my Book Coach In Your Pocket programme — I’m looking for 3 people to work with before Christmas.
Here’s how it works:
- I send you a questionnaire with some probing and nosy questions about your book or writing project.
- We get on a 90-minute coaching call and figure out what your goals, challenges, and glimmers are.
- I craft 30 days of prompts and nudges for you based on that call, so you make kickin’ progress on your project over the next month.
- We meet up again for 30 minutes to wrap up, ask questions, and give you direction to keep going.
Oh, and in case you’re wondering — demystifying the creative process doesn’t make it feel any less magical. When an amazing idea arrives, or I make a cool connection, or I write something really good that feels like it came from outside of myself — it still feels like magic.
Even if I know there’s not really a muse out there bestowing creativity on me.
We can keep the magic and direct our own creativity.
How cool is that?
p.s. I’m looking for 2 people to work with me in Book Coach In Your Pocket before Christmas. Are you in?
How to work with The MicroBook Magician
Nonfiction Book Ghostwriting: Idea to book in just 20 weeks
Buy My Book: How the hell do you write a book?
VIP Book Breakthrough Day: Make a quantum leap in book progress in just one day
Book Coach In Your Pocket: Your first draft done (or all but) in just 30 days
MicroBook Magic: Write your MicroBook in just 8 weeks
Creative Playground: Write every day + get advice, support, and bonus access to my workshops! (1 week trial for £1)