Feeling Inspired

Earlier this week, I read Simon Whaley's excellent  Simon Says blog and he was describing how he's started a 'morning pages' routine. Each morning he writes three pages in his notebook. It doesn't have to be 'writerly' stuff, just anything that's rattling around in the brain. And so far, he's found it very productive, having been able to pick out ideas from each session.

This is definitely something I'm going to try. But it also got me on to wondering what else provides inspiration for writers. I don't just mean, going for long walks and the rhythmic crashing of the waves against the shoreline, I mean other things, like the above exercise. For myself, I know that diving into a copy of Writing Magazine or Freelance Market News usually gets me fired up to get stuck into something, even if it's only a reader letter - it's still writing!

Watching a great film that's been cleverly written is also another one, as is reading a good book. If you haven't seen 'Stranger Than Fiction', you should really try and see it. It's very clever and there are some fabulous lines in it. It's definitely one that makes me go 'Oh, I wish I'd written that!' It also features a writer, which is something else that tends to interest me and get the writing brain chugging away. Who'd have thought?

So, what gets you fired up and reaching for the pen or keyboard?