Did you know all fresh sourdough loaves originate from a single, ageing chunk of dough known as The Mother? Some bakers own Mothers that are over 100 years old! I find that both amazing and creepy, as the Mother is locked in a cupboard and continues to breed through the centuries.
As a creative writer and content writer, the words I produce similarly need a large Mother of inspiration to constantly feed from. If that source withers, so does my writing talent. And as you might imagine, the appetite of that MOFO is ravenous.
For insight of what exactly keeps me turning up to the page to spill my skills, I've collected the Top 5 triggers that inspire my writing. This is just as much a motivational reminder for me as it’s a picture of what lies behind this professional wordsmith for you! Welcome to the fuel core of heapswhitty (fully sustainable)...
1. Cafes
There’s just something about the atmosphere and buzz of a cafe that really gets me going. Once I'm settled on a table, preferably window-based, it's time to write minus the distractions of the home or office. It's not just the coffee/caffeine that peps me up – it's the energy and smell of freshly ground beans, the chatter of idle people about highly personal but unimportant worries, the friendliness of the staff, smiles from strangers, the personalities that pop in for a quick takeaway, lunch made to order whenever I am hungry, the freebie pastries at the end of the day... I could go on, but you get the gisteroo. Whether I am writing in my notebook or typing on my laptop, the common cafe setting is rocket fuel for my creativity.
2. People Watching / Flaneuring
I like to use the French term for this, being a flaneur, but I recently learned from the Australian Writer's Centre that there’s actually an industry term for writing in this setting: a PPWS (Perfect People Watching Spot). Nothing really competes with the joy of finding a seated position in a comfortable cafe, pub, bar or park where you are removed just enough from the action to still be present and observe what's going on. It's kind of how I imagine it would feel to wear Harry Potter's invisibility cloak in public. Not only does flaneuring provide a handful of ideas for characters and intersecting plot lines, but it exposes me to a mess of different people's social etiquette and an opportunity to study dialogue in a natural setting. Amazing what you can learn from listening and watching on the sidelines of life.
3. The Great Outdoors
I find the natural world impressive beyond words. So what a challenge to immerse myself within it and try to write about it! When I am lacking inspiration, feeling like a pin-prick, and struggling to see beauty in the world – I return to nature and shut out the human noise. It's difficult to write in nature with a laptop (screen glare, battery life etc.), so I am forced to use my notebook and this encourages me to sketch what I see, describing the sounds, scents and colours of my scenery. Famous writers Wordsworth, Thoreau and Woolf were onto something!
4. Creating Connection
Achieving positive connection with my words is one of my greatest motivations! I write to contribute to getting some genuine messaging out there in a sea of frantically-typed guff. I can guarantee that all my published words were written from a point of empathy and understanding, not churned out for money or status. This includes my copywriting! I approach my copywriting as a translation service – I take what one professional or business needs to communicate to their audience, and I jump over to the audience's side to see what they might want to hear, and what they definitely don't want to hear. I connect the two dots through my writing.
5. The infinite weirdness of living things
Aren't we all just so freakin weird?! I see examples of this every day: in humans, animals and even the trees. I am not crazy! I am just in-tune with the freaks of nature because they are ultimately what make this world so intricately interesting, and that is great fuel for a writer. Observing the never-ending oddness of the world around me gets my cogs into the right gear to work and I often find I notice things others don't. These may be insignificant things, like two worms connected at the butt, or a bird with toupe-style head colouring, but I still notice, note it, and feel an urge to share my observation. I believe weirdness is the inspirational force that gives my writing voice some spice.