{"id":43786,"date":"2026-05-11T06:30:26","date_gmt":"2026-05-10T18:30:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/?p=43786"},"modified":"2026-05-10T15:29:43","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T03:29:43","slug":"inspiration-vs-perspiration-a-post-from-inside-the-writing-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/2026\/05\/11\/inspiration-vs-perspiration-a-post-from-inside-the-writing-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Inspiration vs Perspiration: A Post From Inside the Writing Life"},"content":{"rendered":"

A question I get asked a lot is whether I have to wait for inspiration to strike in order to write. It\u2019s a question I always field with a degree of wry humour, because the answer is that if I waited for the lightning-strike of inspiration, very little would ever get written.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Waiting on lightning to strike.<\/p><\/div>\n

Inspiration helps a lot with getting started, although even then it\u2019s not essential. Another approach, for example, is to do what I call \u201cnoodling and doodling\u201d, i.e. playing around with ideas to see what develops \u201clegs.\u201d<\/p>\n

At some point, yes, there is always a creative spark that gets those \u201clegs\u201d moving, but keeping them going is all about turning up at the writing desk on a regular schedule and putting in the perspiration. Because even if the mood, inclination, and inspiration are all missing in action at the outset, I find that by the time I hit 200 words or so, they are usually starting to show their faces again.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Turning up and keeping going, no matter what, has definitely been my pilot star since I began writing in earnest, as well as a constant of the WALL #4 journey to date. So if you\u2019ve ever wondered if the reason it has been a long one is because I\u2019ve been waiting for the lightning of inspiration to strike, I can not only put my hand on my heart and assure you that\u2019s not the case \u2013 but also, that if it were, we would all still be waiting on \u201cthe end\u201d!<\/p>\n

\"\"

Photo credit: Marisa Taylor<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A question I get asked a lot is whether I have to wait for inspiration to strike in order to write. It\u2019s a question I always field with a degree of wry humour, because the answer is that if I waited for the lightning-strike of inspiration, very little would ever get written. Inspiration helps a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-about-writing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43786","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43786"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43786\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43788,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43786\/revisions\/43788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}