Inspiration vs. Perspiration: Writing, Scams, and Creative Freedom

Rosemi Mederos: 00:01

If you have plot bunnies coming out of your plot holes, it’s time for a writing break.

We’ve got publishing news today, and we’ll discuss what it means to create space for inspiration and how to balance it with the discipline of writing.

The Writing Break cafe is open, so let’s grab a table and I’ll fill you in on some publishing news.

e Penguin Random House Winter: 2024

Thinking of paying your taxes this year? I would hope so. The Author’s Guild is hosting a Tax Tips for Authors 2025 webinar via Zoom on January 29th. It’s free and open to non-members. The registration link can be found in the show notes of this episode.

Also in the show notes is a link to the latest publishing scam alerts. For example, there is a person claiming to be an agent from Next Phaze Media Group offering to represent authors for a mere $500 dollars. The way the scam works is you pay the fee, sign a one-year contract, and then never hear from them again.

Remember that legitimate literary and film agents take a percentage of the deals they secure for you, but they do not, ever, charge authors upfront fees. Mmkay?

Do you remember the crazy Arkansas law that intended to press charges against librarians and booksellers for giving kids access to certain books? The law was challenged by groups like the Authors Guild and local bookstores because they believed it violated free speech rights. A federal court agreed, saying the law was unconstitutional because it encouraged censorship and restricted access to books based on their content. Thank you to everyone working to protect creative freedom and making sure readers can access a wide range of ideas.

The Author’s Guild is offering emergency aid to creators affected by the Los Angeles fires. If this is you or someone you know, please see the show notes for a link to more information.

It’s time to head to the Overthinking Couch and discuss inspiration versus perspiration.

Astute listeners caught that the outro of this show was changed to remove the bit about bookstores and authors because we’re not featuring bookstores and authors in every episode like we were before. The decision to remove these segments came after reviewing the results of a listener survey. But I did leave in the part about making space in your mind for the muse, and that’s what I want to address today.

A muse, or a source of inspiration, can come in many forms. For some, it’s another person. For others, it’s nature. And for Frida Kahlo, it’s herself. Waiting for the muse, cultivating the muse, making space for the muse, whatever you want to call it, is, in my mind, creating an opportunity to get inspired. Some famous artists advise you not to wait around for inspiration, just get it done, perspiration over inspiration. Some famous artists need to be hit with a certain bolt of energy to get going, inspiration and then perspiration.

I thank you at the end of every episode for making space in your mind for the muse because it is not easy to make that time for yourself and your art. Reading books on writing or just reading other books in your genre to see how others are doing the thing are ways of improving your writing, and I applaud when people do those things because I have encountered too many aspiring authors who admit that they don’t read.

Listening to my podcast, I hope, allows you to think about yourself as an author without comparing yourself to anyone else and without having to stare at the blank page. It’s important to create that kind of space for yourself and see where that takes you. Too often aspiring authors, especially those with talent, struggle to think of themselves as writers. When you listen to this show, you are a writer, whether that’s a nonfiction author, a novelist, a screenwriter, a playwright, an essayist, or a poet, that’s you. When you listen to this show, you are a writer, and your editor is catching you up on what’s going on in the publishing world or imparting some writing advice in hopes that you find a useful bit of fire in each episode. And if you do, it’s because you made space in your mind for the muse.

You should sit and write when you can, regardless of inspiration. In the words of Ru Paul, “You better work.” But inspiration helps a heck of a lot. I’ll end this episode with a great quote by Stephen King from his book about writing called, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft.

“There is a muse, but he’s not going to come fluttering down into your writing room and scatter creative fairy-dust all over your typewriter or computer. He lives in the ground. He’s a basement kind of guy. You have to descend to his level, and once you get down there you have to furnish an apartment for him to live in. You have to do all the grunt labor, in other words, while the muse sits and smokes cigars and admires his bowling trophies and pretends to ignore you. Do you think it’s fair? I think it’s fair. He may not be much to look at, that muse-guy, and he may not be much of a conversationalist, but he’s got inspiration. It’s right that you should do all the work and burn all the midnight oil, because the guy with the cigar and the little wings has got a bag of magic. There’s stuff in there that can change your life. Believe me, I know.”

That’s all for now. Until next time, thank you so much for listening, and remember, you deserved this break.

Thank you for making space in your mind for The Muse today.

Writing Break is hosted by America’s Editor and produced by Allon Media with technical direction by Gus Aviles. Visit us at writingbreak.com or contact us at podcast@writingbreak.com.