Creativity by Vangile Makwakwa

Please welcome guest columnist Vangile Makwakwa to Writer’s Fun Zone! Today Vangile shares her tips on creativity. Enjoy!

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How to Find Inspiration to Write Consistently

A year ago I’d have said I am the least likely person on this planet to write about writing consistently. I was blocked, drained and frankly a tad bit overworked; now I think it is because of this experience that I am most suited to share some of my lessons on finding inspiration to write consistently:

Learn what triggers your creativity

Understand yourself – know what inspires you to be creative.

You have to keep track of your habits and start being self-aware about the mood, place and time you have to be in to write. Once you know your external and internal emotional triggers for writing you can recreate them.

Music is a huge emotional trigger for me, so I listen to music before sitting down to write and the things that come up always shock me.

Know your poison

Become emotionally intelligent and understand what stops you from connecting with your inner muse.

Every writer has that one thing that keeps them from creating and writing.

My poison is movies, I hate TV but I love movies; just when I’m about to write I’ll find a movie that I just have to see because my world will fall apart if I don’t.

I’ve learned to catch myself when I’m about to do that and to stop myself in mid action and just ask myself why I want to avoid writing. Once you know your poison, it’s easy to avoid it and focus on walking through the fear that’s causing the distraction in the first place.

Find your ideal writing time (creative time)

Find out when you feel inspired to write and stick to that time; be protective over it.

I used to beat myself up for not writing throughout the day. The truth is no matter how often I try I can never sit down and write during the day, because I’m too fascinated by everything that’s happening around me.

I suffer from FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) during the day, but when night comes I just want to be left alone with my thoughts and my laptop.

So now I chill out during the day, write in the evenings and edit in the morning first thing.

Find your Zen writing place

I once read that Maya Angelou can’t write unless she’s in a hotel room with a glass of sherry or something. That’s where she writes best.

My writing place is my couch with reruns of old sci-fi series on silent in the background or dead silence.

I take small breaks to listen to music in-between but silence is a must when I write. And I have to be alone so I can talk to myself as I write.

Allow yourself to evolve as a writer

My worst mistake was never taking a day to rest and allowing myself to miss my creativity and studying how to make it better.

I forced myself to keep writing things that I no longer wanted to write about because that felt safe.

We become writers because we have things to say and we should never suppress ourselves and edit ourselves as we write.

Edit afterwards but still remain true to your message, take creative risks because that’s what will keep your writing fresh even to you.

How do you get your inspiration to write?

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Vangile Makwakwa is a speaker and author. Her book Heart, Mind & Money: Using Emotional Intelligence for Financial Success is published in South Africa. To learn more visit her website: www.wealthy-money.com.