Dave Baldwin

Writers often take a day off when they feel “uninspired” or out of ideas. In fact, this is often the best time to write. When you have exhausted your complement of knowledge and easy ideas, it forces you to get down into the trenches. It forces you to rely on divine inspiration for words. It forces your ego to get out of the way and allow language to be channeled through you, onto the page.

Have you ever had the experience of watching something write itself through your fingers? If not, the best and most reliable way to produce this effect is to write when you don’t feel like writing. It’s ironic how many writers don’t write because they don’t feel inspired. These are the moments you should be waiting for.

Waiting to get inspired is like waiting for the wind to blow your way, or waiting for traffic lights to turn green. Real writers don’t wait for circumstances to cooperate. Real writers write no matter what.

If you aren’t out to create waves and make a lasting difference in the way people think, act, make decisions, and conduct political relations, you will have a hard time pushing past the wall. It takes real determination to tap the creative stream when it isn’t flowing your way on its own. This is a challenge. It’s the universe saying, “How serious are you?” If you’re not that serious, you need to rethink the reason why you are even writing in the first place.

This is, in other words, one of those times when “I just know I have to tell my story” is not a good enough reason. These are the moments that require you to push forward and become a new person. As you delve into the rhythm of writing, you will begin to regularly encounter moments of non-inspiration and learn to keep pushing forward into them all. You will start to get comfortable with this practice, and you will find yourself going a little farther each time.

Magical moments begin to occur. Just when you think you are out of ideas, you will find yourself breaking through a barrier, and new ideas will start flooding again. During these times, you’ll be planning to turn in for the night and stay up four more hours writing. Pushing over these humps also often creates new clarity as to the purpose, core message, and audience for your writing. Give it a try.