Goodreads asked Jon Zelig:

How do you get inspired to write?

Jon Zelig For most people who *really* write, I don’t think “inspiration” is an issue. I’ve often said to students that I see writing as both evidence of mental illness and a (temporary, symptomatic) treatment for mental illness. Writers and other artists just have stuff “erupting” in their brains constantly. It’s good, it’s bad, it’s worthwhile, it’s crap? Doesn’t matter. It’s endless static and chatter. You write: you drain that briefly (mostly nobody cares what you write—certainly you are hardly ever paid—but you do it because you have to do it).

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