A recipe for getting inspired to write
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Lately, when it comes to my personal writing, I've been feeling a bit stuck. No ideas. No inspiration. Nothing to work with.
Sure, I can get through my clients' work just fine. The material is there, laid out for me and provided by them – I just have to puzzle it together into a compelling and thoughtful narrative that tells their story.
That part's easy. I just start putting words on a page and move them around until they feel right, working on adding in the details as I go – kind of like when you start seasoning your cooking.
Following a recipe.
Truth be told, writing is like following a recipe. There's a structure, an order, and a proper way to go about it. You add a little of this, a little of that, you follow the directions, and voila! The dish turns out perfect.
... as long as you mind what you add and then add it in the correct order.
If you get a little heavy-handed with that salt or garlic, though (okay, who am I kidding, there is NEVER too much garlic) or decide to switch up the order the ingredients are added, then the whole project can go sideways, and you'll be left with a mess on your hands. (Enter our heroes, the copyeditors.)
So you have to learn to strike the right balance. And unlike in cooking, you can actually subtract the unnecessary stuff before it's served up. There's always time to change it.
So, for client work, I follow one of my many tried-and-true recipes. I churn out solid work that wows their clients (or at least that's my goal) and then move on to the next piece.
Cooking from scratch
But for my own work ... well, that's a more complicated issue. This is from-scratch cooking, friend. (Yes, I'm continuing the metaphor – stick with me).
First, I have to decide what I'm going to make in the first place (hello, decision fatigue), and then I have to scrounge through the cupboards to find the ingredients.
And let me tell you. My cupboards are not at all organized, literally or metaphorically, so it takes a lot of effort to get my mise en place together before I can even start the whole thing.
And then, after all that, I still have to produce an inspired and elegant dish that won't be judged too harshly (by me … I really am my own worst critique).
Cooking – I mean, writing – for yourself is exhausting.
My latest read was Tyler Merritt’s book “I Take My Coffee Black,” a book that discusses race, faith, relationships and penchant for musical theater.
If you don't know what to write, read.
Since I didn't know what to write, I took the wise advice from someone out in TikTok land, and I started reading more.
And it provided a powerful shift in my writing that I didn't expect.
I decided to grab a book and read for the joy of reading. I started with The Tyler Merritt Project's audiobook "I Take My Coffee Black."
It's been a minute since I've had the chance to really read anything. I've got two high-needs kids who take up all my waking hours and a pile of half-finished or barely started books gathering dust on my nightstand.
I think there are 7 there, currently, not counting that one that fell behind the bed that I’ll probably never see again.
But, somehow, I made it all the way through this one, though the odds were stacked against me (I really should get a gold star).
I listened to it every chance I got. Sometimes the audio played in 10-minute increments on the way to and from a child’ school pickup and sometimes I grabbed my headphones and listened while not-so-patiently waiting for my kids to fall asleep.
Then I received a gift – one long, blessedly kid-free drive to go camping and I was finally able to finish the book in peace.
It took a while to get there. But every minute was worth it.
Admittedly, I usually prefer books in written form. I like to hold the pages, I like to re-read passages. But Tyler's book in Tyler's voice is just so different than your usual audiobooks. It wasn’t an author reading the page, it was a man sitting on his couch sharing his hopes, dreams, and failures.
It was full of vulnerability, humility, and humor and by the end, I felt like I had a new friend. I hate to say it, but I can't imagine a written book having the depth he brought to his audio performance. Because he didn't just read, he performed the narrative.
The threads he wove throughout his story connected us. We might differ in many ways, but we are the same in many others. And Tyler made his differences relatable and accessible.
His candor was endearing. His ability to talk about the hard, sometimes humiliating moments of his life while weaving in jokes, a bit of history, and his journey through faith was captivating.
I felt like I had opened a door into his life, walked right in, and found a new perspective – both on the struggles of being Black in America and in my own approach to writing.
See, this blog is really about me. Sorry, Tyler.
Influence and inspiration
See, as a writer, you can’t live in a void. You have to be constantly filling your soul and mind with the work of others so that the work you produce is strong, relevant, and works.
You learn so much by consuming the words of other writers. Reading someone else's work is powerful and influences how you write and frame your own stories. It probably has more impact than you realize. The subconscious picks up on their cadence, their nuanced choice of words, how the author structures the story, the tone they use, and how their words flow through the narrative.
“I believe that reading and writing are the most nourishing forms of meditation anyone has so far found. By reading the writings of the most interesting minds in history, we meditate with our own minds and theirs as well. This to me is a miracle.”
Simply put, reading other people's work changes how you see the world. It changes how you write. And it can make you want to write more.
This is what I hoped for when I picked up his book. And that's exactly what happened.
I finished Tyler's story, and then my mind started spinning. Suddenly, that drought-ridden creek bed of blog and story ideas began to overflow with new material. There were new possibilities in front of me. New ways to approach a story that I hadn't considered before.
I was inspired.
After a seemingly neverending dry spell, I WANTED to write for myself. I grabbed an Excel document and started meticulously planning out pieces to write and looking for ways I could create content that felt authentic and true to me. I began exploring ways to shape and mold my life's narrative to make my work relevant and engaging.
But then I hesitated. I balked. I pulled the reins back and said "Whoa, pony." I'm an intensely private person. Did I really want to share these snippets of my life?
After some introspection, the answer I landed on is "sure." There are things about me that I can share when it feels relevant or propels the narrative of my work. Or when I feel like it will add value to your life. As long as it doesn't feel too vulnerable, I'm in. (I'm just not there yet).
So follow along and we'll see what kind of dish – er, writing – we end up with. Hopefully it will be good.
(If you're still reading, you're a saint. But seriously, head over to Amazon and grab a copy of "I Take My Coffee Black" by Tyler Merritt. Maybe you'll get inspired, too. And if not, you'll at least have a pretty great book to read.)