Rebecca DeMarino: When Inspiration Fails: Five Tips to Get Back to Writing

Rebecca DeMarino

There is ebb and flow in every writer’s life and finding your rhythm will save you from pulling out your hair as you stare at the screen. But there are times when a deadline must be met, and it doesn’t matter if it’s self-imposed or otherwise.

Here are my five favorite ideas to kindle the fire of imagination:

1.  Go to the Word. Read scripture. Talk to God and let Him speak to your heart. Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.  Jeremiah 33:3. What a promise!

2.  Experience the beauty of nature and let it translate to the page. Listen to a stream. Study people. Watch some waves. Hike a mountain. Sit in a garden and drink in the fragrance. Sip a glass of lemonade and taste the tart and sweet of it.

3.  Keep your notepad with you and be like Leonardo: write or doodle, but get your in-the-moment ideas down.

4.  Take a nap or daydream. I think there is nothing more decadent than to sleep with sunshine on my face.  A power nap of twenty minutes can refresh your mind and spirit. A word of caution here: don’t overdo it. Too much sleeping during the day will ave the opposite effect and will affect your sleep at night when all of that good REM sleep occurs. And fun, inspiring dreams!

5.  Go to the pros. Reading a book on the writing craft often pulls me out of a bog and excited to see how their advice will look in my story. A few of my favorites: James Scott Bell: The Art of War for Writers; Rebecca McClanahan: Word Painting; Brandilyn Collins: Getting Into Character and Donald Maas: Fire in Fiction. I could go on.

This is just a starter list. You must have your favorite fire-starter.  What is your number one tip?

About Rebecca:

Rebecca DeMarino lives in the Pacific N.W. and enjoys hiking, baking, genealogy and gardening. Her debut novel, A Place in His Heart, is a historical romance inspired by her ninth great-grandparents, Barnabas and Mary Horton, and is book one of The Southold Chronicles. It is available now from Revell. For more information please visit her website or Facebook page. She can also be found on Pinterest.

A Place in His Heart
The Southold Chronicles, Book 1

Anglican Mary Langton longs to marry for love. Left at the altar and disgraced in her small hamlet, she is being pressured to marry the eligible son of the London milliner. Puritan Barnabas Horton still grieves the loss of his beloved wife, but he knows his two young sons need a mother. With tender hearts, Mary and Barnabas take a leap of faith and wed. But when Barnabas’s secret plans to move his family to the New World to escape persecution come to light, Mary’s world is upended. How could she possibly leave her Papa and her dear sister?

And will she ever reach the secret places of her husband’s broken heart?

Tweetables:

Find your missing inspiration. #Write Right! with @RebeccaDeMarino @DeliaLatham http://tinyurl.com/k8k7leo

5 steps to inspiration. #Write Right! with @RebeccaDeMarino @DeliaLatham  http://tinyurl.com/k8k7leo