Melissa Dahl
I don't, really? I think this is a big myth about writing -- the idea that you have to be ~inspired~ to write before you write. You don't!!
We tend to believe this is how motivation, or inspiration, works. You have to feel like working out before you work out; you have to feel like writing before you write. But is that true, necessarily?
I wrote a short post about this years ago for Science of Us -- there will be days when you are not feeling particularly inspired to write. That's okay.. You can acknowledge that reluctance -- but it doesn't have to dictate what you do. It is totally possible to not "feel" like writing WHILE you are writing.
Being a journalist really beat this idea into me. You just don't get the luxury of waiting for inspiration when your deadline is in a half hour. Sometimes I wish my approach to writing was more muse-like or magical, but mostly, I appreciate my workmanlike attitude. It gets the job done.
(I mean, there totally ARE those magical hours where some idea or inspiration hits you in a flash! But that doesn't HAVE to happen. You can still get the work done, even without that magic.)
p.s. Here's that Science of Us post: https://www.thecut.com/2016/04/this-i...
We tend to believe this is how motivation, or inspiration, works. You have to feel like working out before you work out; you have to feel like writing before you write. But is that true, necessarily?
I wrote a short post about this years ago for Science of Us -- there will be days when you are not feeling particularly inspired to write. That's okay.. You can acknowledge that reluctance -- but it doesn't have to dictate what you do. It is totally possible to not "feel" like writing WHILE you are writing.
Being a journalist really beat this idea into me. You just don't get the luxury of waiting for inspiration when your deadline is in a half hour. Sometimes I wish my approach to writing was more muse-like or magical, but mostly, I appreciate my workmanlike attitude. It gets the job done.
(I mean, there totally ARE those magical hours where some idea or inspiration hits you in a flash! But that doesn't HAVE to happen. You can still get the work done, even without that magic.)
p.s. Here's that Science of Us post: https://www.thecut.com/2016/04/this-i...
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