Inspiration
by: Linda M. Crate

My writing process really varies from day to day. Sometimes I wake up and I am inspired simply by dreams or thoughts I had the previous day while working my night job.

 

I love those mornings where I just wake up and I can just go to town. It makes me feel accomplished to start writing right away when everyone else is sleeping or loafing about. It makes me feel as if I'm doing something right.

 

I am inspired by anything and everything. Music, turns of phrases, even interactions with my customers can provoke ideas or ideas for characters in future novels. I have even killed off customers in my novels who were extraordinarily mean to me or made me cry.

 

Other days inspiration is hard to come by even if I do listen to music and those days I generally try to watch anime or read or even go out with family and/or friends and just give my brain a rest for a while. This usually helps when I come back to my writing later.

 

The uninspired days are the worst for me because I generally always have ideas for my books, but sometimes it is a process just to get the words out of my head, which is why I think that giving myself some time to process is so important. I know from past experiences that forcing writing is worse than simply not writing at all, so if there is a day where I just can't write I try to busy myself with something else during that time.

 

I have been writing since I was thirteen years old, although I dabbled it in a bit before then. It's something that gives me a way to release my imagination in a way where people don't look at me as if I'm crazy. I've always had wild ideas and a vidid imagination, and I remember in my roleplaying days that it made people really love me or hate me. There really didn't seem to be much of an in-between.

 

To me, writing is as vital as breathing. There's really nothing better than just expressing thoughts and ideas through my characters, especially now that my Magic Series is being birthed to live, it's a very exciting thing for me. I have always wanted to change the world and, I believe that words and books are certainly a way of helping to open people's eyes.

 

I always try to make my characters human and easy to relate to. I want them to be able to inspire people and help them through their problems. I want people to realize that they're not alone.

 

My uncle was a painter who lost his battle with depression. Writing came to me at a time where I was suffering greatly. He encouraged my writing and told me to chase my passion relentlessly, which I think is why I am so ferocious about writing. I will never give it up because I want to make him proud, even still. I miss him so much.

 

In a way, I guess you could say I write because of my uncle. I always wished to be a painter growing up, but I didn't have his talent. Art and literature were always two things I've loved, so I decided to go with the literature aspect of it. But writing chose me, I didn't choose it. I thought I did, but now I find that I couldn't stop even if I tried.

 

Writing is my passion and my addiction. However, I wouldn't have it any other way. There are worse things to be addicted to.
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LitPick thanks Linda M. Crate for stopping by again to talk about what inspires her to write each day!

Linda M. Crate is the author of the fantasy novel Dragons & Magic, part of Linda's Magic series, which also includes the novel Blood & Magic.