Inspiration - isn't that the aim of every writer, whether they work with non-fiction or fiction? It's not just a way to keep the reader turning the page until the final chapter or thinking about the words long after the book is back on the shelf. It's a deeper level of communication, a connection, to have your reader see something from another perspective, to inspire them through your experience or a character's story to look at life in a new way. Whatever the genre - romance, mystery, crime, self-help or even cooking, the writer is morphing the reader's world, changing how they think.
Inspiration can be a tricky thing; it cannot be summoned at will, or even found when sought after. It is a spark of magic that can only be seen by those put under its spell. Perhaps that's why some writing falls flat even though it is structurally sound. It's also why some writing - horribly flawed and clearly the work of a novice - grabs you and doesn't let you go.
I'm looking for inspiration, through reading, through life. It's much easier to know when something is not right - when you feel sick at the thought of work every Sunday night, when your ceiling leaks again and the owner of your building is ineffective, and dare I say incompetent, at having it fixed, when your friends are moving away and you discover you have nothing holding you to where you are. Logic lets you know when things are not right, but it's impossible to know what will be right if you can't see the spark. Without inspiration we're directionless, in the dark.
So you open yourself up in the hope that your vision will clear and you will be hit with the equivalent of Cupid's arrow for your life. While you wait, you read, you try new things and maybe you pray just a little bit in the hope of that moment when against all rationale, you know exactly what you need to do.
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