Some days, it’s difficult to get inspired. I’m having one of those days. I talked about this problem on Friday too, so you’ll know about my predicament if you’ve been around the blog.

The recap version? Today, I have no idea what to blog about and I don’t have the drive to put in any real effort. #yayhonesty This is me winging it.

A quick Google search on ‘how to find inspiration’ offers some basic results. Take a walk, read a book, listen to music. You get the general idea.

Mostly, these things work for me. Music and art have always been major sources of inspiration, and reading or consuming other visual media definitely helps too. I mean, my entire novel was stirred up by a Scishow video about deadly viruses paired with The Grand Game in Dragon Age, and an article I found about women with dark hair changing the face of beauty in history when being blond was considered the ultimate level of allure (sorry, I can’t find that link again).

Inspiration is everywhere. As creatives, we learn to harness that early on. We must, otherwise we won’t create. That’s why being uninspired is so draining – there’s no outlet for creative energy. And if you read my post on Friday, you know that I have ten weeks worth of pent up energy to get rid of. 🙂

So, what do we do about being uninspired? Except for the Google generated ideas, this works for me.

As much as I hate to admit it, taking a breather helps. It certainly brought me back to my manuscript with fresh ideas and I’m glad to report my ten-week streak is officially broken. Committing and becoming accountable online seemed to do the trick and I wrote around 700 words yesterday. That’s not much, compared to my usual workday, but it’s a lot better than 0 words. Do I want to sit down and work today? No. Which brings me to the second point.

Forcing myself to work often yields results too. This very blog post is evidence of that. I didn’t want to write it, yet here we are. 🙂 Once the first few sentences are on the screen, the rest will flow naturally.

If that doesn’t work, get in some subcontractors. Yup, I mean brainstorming partners. I’m lucky enough to have two of these, my brilliant cousins Shants and Tanja, and their input often leads me to consider possibilities I wouldn’t have imagined otherwise. Fresh perspective is the bomb. Being stuck in a rut means I don’t want to talk about writing, so this is another thing uninspired-Yolandie has to be forced to do.

As a last resort, try to create something else. Playing with watercolours or repainting dolls not only calms my angst, but it usually frees up mental space for considering plotlines. I had to learn to create different kinds of artworks simultaneously for Inktober last year, but it seems to have grown my total creative capacity. I had one of the best writing sprints of my life during Inktober.

And if nothing else helps, listen to your body. The drained feeling that comes with lacking inspiration can be a symptom of depression or anxiety. If you’re stuck in quicksand and sinking fast, maybe find someone professional to help.

I’m leaving you with that thought. Stay awesome!

Yolandie.