I read two Writer’s Digest magazines earlier this month. I thought it would inspire me but instead, I’ve felt less inclined to write.

The first was the February issue was somewhat inspiring. The first article that stood out to me, “Your Novel Blueprint” by Karen S. Wiesner, helps me to see that a successful combination of many things, and I must know some general things before I jump into writing my novel. Of course, things can change as I write, but I still must consider all aspects (internal and external dialogs, point of view, number of “sparks” to keep the reader interested, how characters will be introduced, etc.) before I have a finished product.

Do you plot out novels before your write them?

I also found the article about rough drafts, “Rough It Up” by Elizabeth Sims, to inspire me. I just sat down and started writing. It was a confusing mess, but it felt nice to be writing. I started with her technique to write on paper — I’ve always been a bit intimidated by paper because I want to edit and fix things, and using a computer is much easier. But writing on paper was a nice experience.

Do you write rough drafts on paper or on a computer?

Then I read another Writer’s Digest. I can’t remember which one it was — I think the March/April one. At any rate, there was an interview with James Patterson. He said (and I wish I’d written it down) that when he read Ulysses by James Joyce, he was so impressed he felt he’d never be able to write anything like that: he knew he didn’t have the talent that Joyce had. Then he read a popular fiction novel (I can’t remember which one) and he said to himself, “I like this in it’s own way; I can write like this.” And then he did so and became a successful popular writer.

I don’t like popular, modern fiction. I don’t read it and think “Wow, this is interesting in its own way.” I still like the classics, and the more I read, the less inclined I am to try to imitate it. For that reason, I don’t think writing a novel is for me.

I like to write. I’ll continue to play with the poems for my “exercises in style” project. I’ll continue to share my inspiring quotes and thoughts that I may find about writing. But I don’t think I’m ever going to be a writer of popular fiction: I don’t usually like to read it, so I wouldn’t be incredibly proud if I wrote it.

If there are any readers of this blog out there, I’d be interested to know what, like James Patterson, your inspiration is. Do you want to be like the classics or popular fiction? Or do you just have an unexplained compulsion to write, as some of the authors interviewed in Writer’s Digest seemed to have?

April is National Poetry Month.

Poets.org shares a number of different activities, including an emailed poem every day this month. Check out their site at the link above for more ways to participate.

I’ve been reading some poetry this month because I certainly appreciate reading poetry, but I am not a poet by any stretch of the imagination. That’s why this site has been silent, as I’ve struggled to figure out how to celebrate when I certainly don’t feel my poetry is “post worthy.”

However, I’m going to try my hand at some of the “exercises” in style in various poetic forms. I’ll try some in the coming days.

How are you celebrating National Poetry Month?

I’m feeling burned out in my reading this week. So I’m turning to writing. But I’m so out of practice. I realize I need more balance.

Write on Wednesday this week is a writer’s meme, so I’ll start here. (more…)

I’d thought I needed the motivation of a blog to write, respond to prompts, etc. But there are so many prompts out there, and they don’t inspire me so much. Much of what I want to write is intensely personal; how do I find it within me?

Recently, I decided to follow the example of other writing bloggers and read an inspiring writing book. That would be a good way to get a “jump start” into my writing, right?

I decided to start with a book most writers quote, Stephen King’s On Writing.

So I read it.

I hated it so much I couldn’t come back to this blog for a week. I couldn’t bring myself to even think about writing. Read my review on my book blog to read my thoughts on it.

How did I get the desire to come back to writing, to this site? Well, I’m still pretty disgusted, but I’m healing. The healing process continued as I read again.

I was reading Never Give In: The Best Winston Churchill’s Speeches. These are political speeches, written by the Nobel Prize in Literature winner, Sir Winston Churchill. And as I read these political speeches, I came across the most beautiful explanation of why I want to write. I posted it on this site.

Write on Wednesday asks: Do you ever feel the need to jump start your writing? What drains the energy from your “writing mind”? What do you do when your creative battery dies?

What drains the energy from my writing mind is poor writing. I’ve decided that when I need a jump start on my writing, it won’t be by reading other writing blogs. It won’t be reading the memoirs of “best-selling” authors. It will be by reading inspiring, well-written words of good writers. Quality, not quantity.

I’ll still read blogs; I’ll still read “best-sellers” (sometimes). But I won’t find the inspiration I need from those sources.

That leads me to the question, “Why do I have this writing blog, a collection of mediocrity?” I don’t know anymore. I may be back and write something here again. But it’s not really what I need.

Whether a man writes well or ill, has much to say or little, if he cares about writing at all, he will appreciate the pleasures of composition. To sit at one’s table on a sunny morning, with four clear hours of uninterruptible security, plenty of white paper, and a Squeezer pen – that is true happiness. The complete absorption of the mind upon an agreeable occupation – what more is there than that to desire? What does it matter what happens outside? … Never mind, for four hours, at any rate, we will withdraw ourselves from a common, ill-governed and disorderly world, and with the key of fancy unlock that cupboard where all the good things of the infinite are put away.

Sir Winston Churchill, from speech entitled “The Pen: Liberator of Man and of Nations” given 17 February 1908, Author’s Club, London (quoted in Never Give In: The Best of Winston Churchill’s Speeches, selected and edited by Winston S. Churchill, page 29-30)