“YOU CAN’T WAIT FOR INSPIRATION, YOU HAVE TO GO AFTER IT WITH A CLUB.” -JACK LONDON

1) Go through your old photographs

Old photographs invoke a kaleidoscope of emotions and are always instrumental in creating something new through your words.

2) Make a writing playlist

Create a playlist of songs that inspire you to write, songs are a great mood setter to write.

3) Clean up your workplace

Your mind is the reflection of your thought process, it has been proven by a psychological research. Cleaning your workplace will help you to gain clarity and inspire you to write

4) Set a Finish Line

Set a target, setting a deadline creates restriction which actually can lead to generation of creativity remember how the prisoners in jail can make some sought of bomb from a soap to spoon! the same can be applied to the writing process.

5) Curate an Inspiration “Museum”

Collect pictures, quotes, poems that intrigue and inspire you to write.

6) Figure out the perfect circumstances to write

While writing do you like to drink tea? Coffee? Do you like to write on your study table or couch? Do you prefer silence or music? What type of music? Instrumental or songs of your favorite singer? Figure out the perfect circumstances to write.

“YOU HAVE TO GET TO A VERY QUIET PLACE INSIDE YOURSELF. AND THAT DOESN’T MEAN THAT YOU CAN’T HAVE NOISE OUTSIDE. I KNOW SOME PEOPLE WHO PUT JAZZ ON, LOUDLY, TO WRITE. I THINK EACH WRITER HAS HER OR HIS SECRET PATH TO THE MUSE.” -MAYA ANGELOU

7) Go to walk and listen to your muse playlist

Walking has been proven to stimulate the creative side of your brain and walking while listening to songs will surely inspire you to write.

8) Try learning something new

Learning something new helps in breaking the monotony of life and is always a great way to inspire your creative muscle.

9) Writing prompts

Search for writing prompts related to your genre and try writing on them.

10) Edit your old work

I bet there is a lot of unpublished old work, go through it and beautify it with your current improved writing skills.

11) Read

Here is one of my favorite quote which will justify you the importance of reading in order to write-

“READ, READ, READ. READ EVERYTHING — TRASH, CLASSICS, GOOD AND BAD, AND SEE HOW THEY DO IT. JUST LIKE A CARPENTER WHO WORKS AS AN APPRENTICE AND STUDIES THE MASTER. READ! YOU’LL ABSORB IT. THEN WRITE. IF IT’S GOOD, YOU’LL FIND OUT. IF IT’S NOT, THROW IT OUT OF THE WINDOW.” -WILLIAM FAULKNER, an American writer and Nobel Prize laureate

12) Just write

You want to win this game of writing than change your perception about winning, winning to you should be showing up not creating a perfect masterpiece. The process of writing will itself inspire you to write

“SHOW UP, SHOW UP, SHOW UP, AND AFTER A WHILE THE MUSE SHOWS UP, TOO.” — ISABEL ALLENDE

13) Visit Pinterest

Always works for me, images are a great way to stimulate your creative genius. Make pinterest boards dedicated to each subject of your writing.

14) Always carry a notepad

You never know what particular thing can lead to an eureka movement and it often happens that throughout the day we have great ideas but don’t have a pen paper to note them down so always carry a notebook in order to avoid this situation.

15) Choose Quantity Over Quality

Write ten ideas per day around your writing. They could be ideas for new blog posts, book titles, and book sections or chapters. By the end of the year, you’ll have 3,650 ideas. Most of them will suck, some will be good, and a few will be amazing. Your creative muscles will be strong, and you’ll have endless material to write about.

16) Eviscerate Your Excuses

Find examples to eliminate your excuses. The undisputed heavyweight champion of blogging, Jon Morrow, isn’t able to use his hands, and has written blog posts read by millions. Stephen Hawking moves his cheek muscles to write. You have writer’s block? Boo hoo.

17) Find Writing Inspiration in Dark Places

Life throws curve balls at you. While you can’t avoid certain situations from happening to you, you can use them as sources of inspiration to create. In an extreme example, Viktor Frankl used his experience in a Nazi death camp as inspiration to help others through his writing with his book Man’s Search for Meaning. You can let negativity overwhelm you, or you can use your experiences to inspire yourself in a cathartic way through your words.