When Inspiration Meets Perspiration

Creativity is more like a muscle: If you practice regularly, flexing and training your mind to absorb inspiration from various sources, that muscle will get stronger. — David Corbett

Aspiring writers often assume that if they truly love writing, they should always feel like writing. But that’s not the way it really works.

There are those wonderful days when the words flow. Ideas seem endless. You can hardly type fast enough to keep up with your thoughts. But on the next day, you stare at the screen and wonder where all those wonderful ideas disappeared to.

The project hasn’t changed. Your calling hasn’t changed. You may still believe the work matters. Yet somehow, the creative juices aren’t there anymore. That’s one of the dangers of complacency. It doesn’t always look like laziness. Sometimes it looks like a writer who genuinely cares about the work but has temporarily lost focus, direction, or momentum.

What’s the answer? “Try harder” might not work. Why? A Texas cowboy might say, “That’s like trying to lift yourself by your bootstraps. It won’t work.”

Let’s look at where we can get a lift if we’re not able to lift ourselves.

Yesterday’s Inspiration Can’t Write Today’s Pages

Keep doing the same thing for better results. Some people call that practice insanity. Something needs to change, but what? Guidance from somebody who knows what we don’t know—that would help. That’s why this prayer is a great idea: Lord, what do you want me to do now?

Writers love productive days. A thousand words written, a chapter completed, an article posted, or a difficult revision finished can leave us feeling wonderfully accomplished. But yesterday’s achievements can’t work as a substitute for today’s faithfulness.

Our fabulous Christian writer of the first century would have this advice for us:

Fellow writers, I’ve not yet become the best I can be, but I know one thing: I need to put past failures and successes behind me and focus on doing much better in the future. I place the highest value on the heavenly reward for using my God-given storytelling talent to the best of my ability. — Philippians 3:13–14 Scripture for Writers

Yesterday’s accomplishment can encourage us, but it can also tempt us to coast. We may unconsciously think, I did well yesterday. I can relax today. Soon, one day becomes several. The manuscript sits untouched. The blog draft remains unfinished. The research piles up. A project once filled with excitement gathers digital dust.

Writing is much like pushing a wheelbarrow. While it is moving, keeping it moving takes effort, but starting again after it has stopped requires even more.

Momentum matters.

Motivation Is a Visitor, Not a Permanent Resident

Many aspiring writers wait to feel inspired before they write. That works beautifully when inspiration has arrived. Unfortunately, inspiration doesn’t keep office hours.

Some mornings you may wake up with a sentence already forming in your mind. On other mornings, the creative well seems dry. If your writing depends entirely upon enthusiasm, your productivity will rise and fall with your emotions. While this may be normal, it doesn’t have to be that way.

With perspiration, we gain inspiration by following the apostle Paul’s advice:

In everything you write, pour your best effort into it, pleasing the Lord as you seek to help others. The greatest reward comes from knowing that your words honor God and serve his purpose in the lives of others. — Colossians 3:23–24 Scripture for Writers

Writing for God doesn’t mean we will always feel excited. It means the work has value even when the feeling is missing. A farmer doesn’t plant only when he feels inspired to farm. A musician doesn’t practice only when every note feels exciting. Likewise, writers learn to sit down and begin, even when enthusiasm hasn’t yet arrived.

Interestingly, motivation often follows action rather than preceding it. Write one sentence. Then another. Soon the mind begins to engage with the material, and the inspiration you were waiting for will arrive without fanfare.

Rest Isn’t the Enemy

Complacency and rest aren’t the same thing. God designed human beings to need rest. At some point in your work, you may need time away.

Jesus said [to his disciples], “Let’s go to a desolate place where we can rest for a while.” So they left by boat to an isolated place. — Mark 6:31–32

Think of an archer pulling back a bow. The backward movement isn’t wasted motion. It prepares the arrow to move forward. Healthy rest works the same way.

The danger comes when rest becomes avoidance. There’s a difference between saying, I need today to recover, and repeatedly saying, Tomorrow, I’ll get back to writing.

Don’t Spend Your Life Waiting for Vacation

There’s something sad about spending five days wishing for the weekend, eleven months wishing for vacation, and forty years wishing for retirement—especially when God has given us meaningful work to do.

Writing can certainly be difficult. Research can be tedious. Editing can feel endless. Marketing may seem exhausting. Yet beneath those demands lies a remarkable privilege: We get to shape ideas into words that may influence people we will never meet. A story, devotion, article, poem, or book may encourage someone years later.

Therefore, fellow writers, don’t even think about giving up. Stay strong and passionate about the message God placed inside you, knowing that your hard work has eternal value. — 1 Corinthians 15:58 Scripture for Writers

Your writing may sometimes feel ordinary. God sees something much larger.

The Problem May Be Direction, Not Discipline

When inspiration disappears, writers often blame themselves. Sometimes, we need discipline to just do it. But at other times, the real problem might be uncertainty.

Imagine standing at an intersection with five roads extending in different directions. Even an energetic traveler may hesitate when he doesn’t know which road to take. Writers often experience the same kind of paralysis.

• Should I finish the book?

• Write today’s blog?

• Research the next chapter?

• Revise yesterday’s pages?

• Work on the website?

• Prepare a presentation?

• Answer email?

• Promote the book?

Ten worthwhile possibilities can sometimes produce less action than one clear assignment.

When you’re unsure about what’s true or how to move forward, simply ask God. He’s always ready to give you wisdom, and he’ll never judge you or make you feel foolish for asking. — James 1:5 Scripture for Writers

Perhaps the solution to our complacency isn’t demanding greater effort from ourselves. We might merely need to ask God for clearer direction.

Ask a Better Question

When you feel stuck, asking, Why don’t I feel like working? might not be much help. Try another question: What is the most enjoyable or worthwhile work I could do now?

That question does two important things:

• First, it narrows your attention. You don’t have to solve your entire writing career today. You need only to identify the next meaningful step.

• Second, it recognizes that worthwhile work doesn’t always have to feel miserable.
Perhaps you’ve been forcing yourself to edit Chapter 12 when your mind is overflowing with ideas for Chapter 13. In that case, go ahead and write Chapter 13.
Perhaps you’ve been avoiding a large revision because the task feels overwhelming. So revise one scene.
Perhaps your manuscript feels stale. Research something that excites your curiosity.

A large project is simply a collection of small next steps. God often guides us the same way he guides a traveler at night—with enough light for the next part of the road. Just keep taking the next right step, and you might be amazed where God will lead you.

Prayer Can Become a Writer’s Reset Button

When your mind becomes scattered, prayer can restore perspective. Instead of merely praying, Lord, help me write, go deeper.

• Lord, what matters most today?

• What project deserves my attention?

• What am I avoiding?

• What should I temporarily set aside?

• Where could my effort help someone most?

Prayer isn’t time taken away from productive work. It can help avoid hours of unproductive work. Jesus often made room for communion with the Father before resuming his work. Perhaps we should follow his example. Sometimes ten quiet minutes with God can save two hours of wondering and wandering.

Don’t Confuse Busyness with Progress

Writers have countless ways to avoid writing while still feeling productive. We can reorganize files. Check book sales. Improve the website. Watch training videos. Browse writing advice. Research publishing options. Read email. Research something we may possibly need someday. Or organize our sock drawer. Sometimes what we see as legitimate activities are sophisticated forms of procrastination.

Suppose someone spends all afternoon sharpening an axe but never cuts down a tree. Eventually, preparation becomes avoidance. Ask yourself: What action would actually move this project forward? Maybe it isn’t glamorous. Maybe it’s writing 500 words. Editing three pages. Calling one interview source. Finishing one troublesome scene. Submitting one article.

Progress usually hides inside very ordinary actions.

Finish Before You Chase Something New

Writers tend to have ideas faster than they can complete them. A new idea always feels exciting because it has no problems yet. The unfinished manuscript, however, has difficult chapters, continuity issues, weak scenes, and revisions waiting. So the new project whispers, Come work on me instead.

What might Solomon say to writers today?

Finishing what you write is better than merely beginning, and patiently completing the work is better than taking pride in what you hope to accomplish. — Ecclesiastes 7:8 Scripture for Writers

Starting is exciting. Finishing requires faithfulness. When another idea appears, capture it. Write it down somewhere safe. Then consider returning to the assignment already in front of you.

A writer with twenty brilliant beginnings has fewer finished books than the writer who faithfully completes one manuscript at a time.

Let God Renew the Desire

There will be days when you can’t manufacture enthusiasm. Inspiration just won’t show up. That doesn’t mean your calling has disappeared.

What would the apostle Pau say?

God’s creative energy is already alive in you—guiding your thoughts, developing your writing skills, and equipping you to fulfill his purpose, encouraging and strengthening others, which is his great delight. — Philippians 2:13 Scripture for Writers

Instead of trying to write what isn’t on your mind, which is impossible, keep writing what’s there until that creative energy begins to return.

You don’t have to pretend enthusiasm you don’t feel. You can ask God to rekindle it.

Just Take the Next Faithful Step

To finish, you don’t have to wait for inspiration today. You need enough grace to take the next step.

• Open the manuscript.

• Read the last page you wrote.

• Write one paragraph.

• Correct one scene.

• Research one question.

• Finish one section.

• Then see where God leads.

Complacency tells us, You can do it later. Regret tells us, You should have done it yesterday. Faith asks a much better question: Lord, what would you have me do now? Life is short, but that truth doesn’t need to create anxiety. It can create clarity.

Rest when you need rest. Pray when you need direction. Ask God to renew your desire. Then return to the work he has given you.

You don’t have to live on yesterday’s inspiration. God has fresh grace for today’s page.

For a practical guide to storytelling, check out Storytelling at Its Best

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