My Reservoir Needs Some Inspiration

In one of my latest posts, I spoke of the creative reservoir. Not everyone will believe in this concept, but let me offer this as a thought process at least.

Each person has a creative reservoir within them. Some chose to use it for home décor, woodworking, painting, or sculpting. We chose to use ours towards writing. Here’s the thing. The reservoir is not bottomless, nor is it able to replenish itself easily.

Let me talk a little about how we drain the reservoir. For writers, it’s easy, really. We write.

Other issues will also create blocks and drains on that reservoir. Stress tends to lock the flow down to a trickle. Extreme emotional times will either back things up or will unleash a flood that drains the supplies in a matter of days, if not hours. Breaking your everyday routine tends to create a difficulty tapping the supplies as well.

Okay, so that’s how we drain it. Now how do we refill it?

Here is where it varies from person to person. For a lot of writers, reading helps refill their creative juices. It gives them a chance to relax, to consider other options for their own writing. Sometimes, if we isolate ourselves when we write, just getting out into the world to meet people will have a filling effect. The characters you’ll meet when you leave the house! Still others will try other forms of creativity, like painting or photography, to recharge, because it uses a different connection to the creativity reservoir. 

There are some that just require a break from writing to recharge. This tends to help me, though I admit I read on my days off of writing. When I say a day off, I don’t mean no writing gets done. You have to write emails for the bill paying job, perhaps a grocery list, definitely a honey to do list. Writing is still done, just not the creative burst that most of us do. For nonfiction writers, perhaps they take time away from the nonfiction to write fiction. It has been known to happen.

Another good recharge concept I’ve crossed is the writers’ group. This can fulfill two jobs. One, it gets you in touch with other people and two, it allows you to bounce plot ideas off like minded people. Completed stories/chapters can receive editing work while you try to refill that creativity well, which the writing group would offer you as support.

In fact, that’s a good way to end this. How do you recharge your writing batteries?