Bernadette Benda

As a blogger (and writer in general) I think we can all agree that coming up with content can be hard. Then we grumble about how blogging is forcing our creativity, or etc (I mean if you don’t like to force content out of your system, that’s ok, do your thing BUT I just have thoughts).

BUT then I think, “There are people who do this for a living. Who’s job is to write a weekly opinion piece, column, whatever. They HAVE to think of something to say.”

Then I was like, oh wait, THAT’S ME. (I run social media for the ballet company. I have to think of things to say).

And think about Dickens, or Alexander Dumas. They wrote stories in serial form. They HAD to come up with things. There was no, “sorry, I have to wait for inspiration.” And there are plenty of people who do that now as well. They have to consistently come with content. They can’t just wait around to create when they feel like it.

And this isn’t just writers: this is all types of artists. Costume designer? You have a deadline. You have to come up with costumes. Screenwriter for a TV show? You gotta write the next episode, the next season. There’s no, “You know what, I’m sorry I didn’t create anything the last three weeks. Just haven’t had any inspiration.”

Now, these are obviously certain types of jobs that people choose to do. You may be sitting here thinking, “well, I don’t want to create like that.” You don’t have to.

But you may have to. Get published? The publishing company may want another book in a year. Artist? You may get commissioned, and they aren’t going to want to wait around forever to get it.

There’s another thing too: the ability to create content consistently is an art in and of itself. To always be knocking out a piece of art, a piece of writing.

I guess this goes along the line of, “You can’t wait for inspiration.” And it’s true. If you wait around to be inspired, you’ll never get anything done.

Sure, a painter might not be able to create the next masterpiece at the drop of  hat, but they certainly could paint something. No, you can’t force yourself to come up with the next Great American (or anywhere else) Novel, but you can certainly write something that is at least presentable. Or at least that might be something we are trying to obtain: to get to the point where writing isn’t just something we like to do, but a skill.

At least that’s me.

Header Photo by fotografierende on Unsplash