Inspiration

You can't force inspiration, but you can push it away. You just have to wait for it, and when it comes, you better be damn well ready with a pen and paper and some harsh self-critique. You can invite it -- by reading books, or talking with other writers, or listening to soundtracks to music... but in the end, you just have to wait, not impatiently, not even consciously, maybe. You just have to wait. And when inspiration comes, you have to write like crazy -- that first burst of energy and ideas is something rare, precious, and ephemeral, even if it is riddled with typos and cliche' things. So once you have an idea -- write, write, write! You can edit and spell-check and develop characters later, but right now you just have to write!

You can wait as long as you may for an idea, but once you have even the slightest bit of inspiration, write it out and think about it and develop it. You can again wait as long as you want -- none will steal your idea or write it before you --, but none will write your idea for you. Stop saying 'one day I'll write about this idea I have' and say instead, 'today I'll write about this idea I have'.

And if that's too much to say, then instead say, 'today I'll write ten words about this idea I have', and soon you'll have written 1,000. All you have to do is break down large, menacing tasks into smaller, more inviting ones.

Instead of 'writing a novel', 'write a chapter' and soon you'll have a novel anyway!