Inspiration comes from a variety of places at various times. For me, it depends on what is happening in my life at the time I am looking for inspiration. For example, the year I quit my job (the first job, not the most recent), I found inspiration in three popular Katy Perry songs. The lyrics were what I needed at the time to get through the emotions that came with making the decision to leave that job.
Those songs are still good and they remain on my ‘inspirational’ playlist, but I don’t need them as much now. They have served their purpose.
Inspiration can come from things like music. It can also come from seeing something beautiful in nature, or in a museum, or in your backyard. The question today should really be “what” are you most inspired by because as I’ve explained, it’s not always a person.
But, in the spirit of sticking to the prompt, and my idea that sources of inspiration can change depending on what’s happening in your life at the time, I’m going to say that I am currently inspired by the teacher of the writing class I’m taking.
Her name is Estelle Eramus. She wrote the book Writing that Gets Noticed. It’s our textbook for the class. She has a quite a list of publishing credits to her name and while I don’t know much about her other than what she has to offer in the first two chapters of her book and session 1 of the class, I am already feeling inspired by her. Perhaps it’s the overall class that is inspiring me. Or the hope that what I learn from her really will get me published. She boasts that her students have been published…a lot (her words). I’d like to be included in that description.
The first writing assignment for the class has certainly inspired me. We are limited to 600 words and what I have written is exactly 700. I am eager to go back and revise it before I submit it on Wednesday. My writing process is that I usually power through and knock out either a big chunk of writing or the whole essay and then put it aside. I let my mind take a break from it. Marinate a little with what I have gotten down, and then come back with fresh eyes to see what I can do to revise it.
The big question is…will I remain as inspired as I am now once I receive her feedback on my piece? Hopefully she’s one of those people who finds something nice/positive to say before doling out the criticism. But, in all fairness, I need the criticism too. I need the feedback, whether positive or negative so I know what to do next in my second assignment, which will be due two weeks from now.
While I wait for the feedback to come, I will remain inspired by the authors of books I’m reading, content creators who have gone on to write books of their own, and all other people who have been successful in their writing journeys.
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