Inspiring Spires #2

Inspiring Spires

Lately, this work in progress of mine feels like it has fallen off a cliff, never to return. It’s not that I don’t have the ideas, or the plot line organized, or any clear understanding of the story progression. It’s already written and has been since last summer. My task at hand is opening up the manuscript, letting it breathe, letting my characters run wild and rampant.

Often, when I’m faced with being stuck, when I have no idea what I’m doing, I look for things in my daily life which inspire me to go on. There’s simple, usually. An apt and timely message on a bag of tea, the beauty of the sun parting against the sky here in southern Oklahoma. Hell, even sometimes my cat Larry proves to be enough of an inspiration to get the juices flowing. Last week, I wrote about doorways, and how they cease to offer me a bit of inspiration when the muse refuses to flow.

This week, I’m looking at quotes. You know, those words that seem so magnificent that some other writer managed to write. The program director for my MFA, Sena, always used to tell us that the competition isn’t in the room (with us); rather, that it’s in the library. Sage that she is, Sena is right.

So here’s a collection of some of my favorite words, already written, that help get the juices flowing.

The worst enemy to creativity is self doubt. Sylvia Plath (This reminder sits on my desk in between my two screens, so I look at it EVERY single day.)

What words do you return to when you're stuck? Join the conversation here, on Facebook, or over on 

Twitter. Happy writing!