Inspiration v Perspiration

I write only when inspiration strikes. Fortunately, it strikes every morning at 9 o’clock sharp.

W.Somerset Maugham

It’s a complex blend. Yes, you have to take action. Yes, you have to allow. It’s a question of getting the balance right.

Show up every day — same time, same place — and you prime your mind and body to be receptive to inspiration. There will be a time, after the work, for the radio interviews to be listened to, the dogs to be walked, the showers to be taken and the parents to be phoned. Because it is still work. But inspired work. Work that is satisfying to the soul, so much so that it can feel better than play. Let this inspired work be your priority.

You do it for you.

You are the main beneficiary to this showing up.

There are other ways to be inspired. To prime the pump, to fill yourself up. A walk full of birdsong, a gallery on your lunch break — each painting bursting with the imagination of its creator, waiting to feed you, to translate to you. A church with stained glass windows to sit in and contemplate. The glory of the colour, the light filtering through. Indescribably beautiful. The trees as they whisper their sweet incantation. All around you, surrounding you, it is everywhere. This inspiration. Yours for the taking. Take it and channel it into your work. And it will spread out to the universe, inspiring others.

Oh beautiful contagion.