At Monash Writers last week, we had a discussion on the topic “Good writers know themselves”. As part of this, we were asked who inspires us and given a few minutes to write it down.
I sat for a while, struggling as no one came to mind…
Here’s what I wrote:
I can’t really think of any one person who inspires me. As an INTP, I find that ideas and concepts are more inspiring than people. I must admit that many “inspiring” tales have me either rolling my eyes or feeling inadequate rather than inspiring me to reach for the stars. Give me a good idea any day.
After this exercise, we all shared what we had written. At first I was scared that I hadn’t answered the question, but as we went around the room, I found there were others who hadn’t named people too! The list that was compiled included specific people or groups of people, history, ideas, events, and writers – both good and bad!
It was nice to know that there were so many more things than just people that inspire us in our writing and publishing journeys. Everyone is different, so different things inspire us.
Who or what inspires you?
