finding your inspiration | WRITER'S WEDNESDAY

Hello!
I'm very excited to announce that I'll be doing a new blog format called Writer's Wednesday!
Since writing is an equally big part of my life as reading and the two of them basically go hand in hand together, I decided to include my thoughts/ experiences/ tips about writing on my blog.
I'm currently working on my very first novel so I'm far from experienced in this business.
However, this is not supposed to be about me being the ultimate writer's guide, it's rather about sharing my experiences and exchanging tips - I would like this format to be an open discussion where everyone can throw in some ideas.

For this first post, I wanted to start off by talking about where everyone has to start when writing: finding inspiration.
This is a very personal and individual process, but I'll introduce some of my ways of how I get inspired here - this may not work for everyone, but I hope it'll help you and I'd love to see some of your ideas in the comments!

Reading
This is the Captain Obvious amongst ways of finding inspiration but at the same time, it's one of the most effective ones for me. Sometimes, I'll read a book or a passage and I'll just get struck by inspiration and have an amazing idea (that often later, turns out to be not so amazing at all, but that's not the point) and other times, I am amazed by an author's writing style and it encourages me to work on my own style.
Essentially, reading is important in order for you to understand how books work and to learn what you like to read. Of course, you should never copy another person's work, but you can always get inspired by another author's writing and learn from their craft.

Keeping a journal
I've always had a diary but lately, I've been getting more and more into journaling daily. I feel like keeping a journal is a whole science for itself and if you need inspiration for that, I strongly recommend using Pinterest. However, I'm skipping all the fancy stuff like drawing and decorating and sticking stuff in my journal: the only thing I ever do with it is write.
And that's absolutely enough. What you write is completely up to you, but I always just sit down and write whatever comes to my mind. Thus, my journal is a wild mixture of poems, random sentences and just what I like to call mind spatter.
I would recommend keeping it as unfiltered as possible - after all, it's not there for other people to read but for you to empty your mind (again, you can of course do it differently, but that's how I use it).
Keeping my journal really helps me getting my head clear and also, sometimes I produce some halfway decent poems that I might even find use for in the future.

Meditating
Similar to keeping a journal, I use meditation to clear my mind.
If you're new to that whole zen and meditation thing, I highly recommend checking out The Mindful Movement on Youtube because they have some really good guided meditation videos.
I usually take ten minutes to meditate in the morning, right before getting out of bed. The effect of meditation gets stronger the longer and more frequently you meditate (at least that's what I feel like) but even ten minutes a day make a big difference for me.
It really helps my mind focus and clear my head. Thus, I am better at observing my surroundings and seeing things that I would have ignored otherwise which makes my mind more correspondant to inspiration.

Living your life
I guess very few people get struck by inspiration while just sitting around at home and waiting for wonders to occur.
Nobody wants to read about a person doing nothing and in order to be able to write about your character's life, you need to know how to live.
Go out with friends, travel around, take a walk,... even when you're not a very outgoing person (like me), there are plenty of ways to experience life to it's full extend, also for introverts.
You don't need to go partying every weekend, but don't sit at home all the time, get out of your comfort zone (even though it's hard, I know).

Be in the right environment
I know from experience that being around negative people can really affect your mind and thus, your inspiration, pejoratively. It may not be that obvious at first but longterm, toxic people really get to your soul.
I'm lucky to have supportive friends that constantly push me and make me feel better but have been in relationships that haven't exactly enhanced by personal growth.
Your environment is essential to your creative process - being around inspiring and positive people is genuinely uplifting and you shouldn't let negative energies intrude your path.

Write
Nobody will ever be creative while waiting to get creative. If that makes sense.
Essentially: just start. By writing anything.
May that be in your journal or in a blank document - what matters is that you start writing.
Creativity comes with being creative. It'll come as you write or even just as you think about your work.
You can have all the inspiration in the world and it won't help if you just sit around not using it.

So on this note, I encourage all of you writers to take a piece of paper - or a word document or whatever your preferred writing material is - and write.
Have fun!
xxx

top 6 tips to read more

Hello!
I've always been quite a fast reader - there were times when I used to read one (normal-sized) book per day. Which is quite a lot.
However, the problem I had with that was that I used to read even at times I didn't really want to just because I wanted to read as many books as possible. Which is entirely stupid and over that mind set, I kind of lost the joy in reading which was very devastating for me.
So I thought I'd share some tips with you today on how to read more WITHOUT getting overwhelmed and forcing yourself to read.
Reading should be something you want to do in your freetime and forcing yourself on a book will just reduce your enjoyment reading it.
So without further ado, here are my tips:

1. include reading in your daily routine
I, for instance, always read while eating. When I went to school my family left the house at different times so I was always alone eating my breakfast which was really boring - so I started to read. That habit stayed with me up until now so it's an integral part of my routine. Of course, you can apply this to any part of your routine, whenever it suits you best.

2. take a book with you wherever you go
I don't know how often I stranded somewhere waiting for something and I didn't know how to pass the time. For that reason, I got into the habit of always taking a book with me (sometimes even two lol), wherever I go. That way, when I have some spare time along the way, I can always read.

3. read several books at once
Personally, I'm quite a mood reader and sometimes I'm in the middle of a book and find myself craving another genre. In the past I would have tried to get through the book that I was already reading as quickly as possible so that I could go on reading the one that I really wanted to read but honestly, that's very stupid. Though I still prefer reading just one book at a time, sometimes it's just inevitable to pick up more than one if your mood changes.

4. DNF the books you don't like
I know, I said it - the bad word. DO NOT FINISH. There you go - for a long time, that has been my worst nightmare. What if I would enjoy the book after a hundred more pages? What if I was missing out on something if I didn't finish it?
I'm going to tell you something: the only thing you're going to miss out on are the thousands and millions of other books you could be reading and actually enjoying instead of holding on to a book you don't like. Because if I don't like a book, I often find myself putting off reading it and then forcing myself to read and then, again, losing joy in reading. And that's not what we want, is it?
And if it comforts you - you can always pick up a book another time.

5. find your best reading environment
This may sound a bit odd at first but for me, it's very crucial. For instance, I'm very sensitive when it comes to noises - it has to be very silent when I'm reading because otherwise, I get distracted very easily and can't concentrate on my reading.
I can read best at night in bed or in the garden or when I'm alone at home, I read on the sofa but I absolutely can't read with music or when there are people talking because then I'll read the same page over and over again without taking anything in.
People are very different when it comes to things like that so the best advice I can give you is to just try out different reading spots and see what works best for you.

6. listen to audiobooks
This may not work vor everyone (I am VERY picky when it comes to audiobooks) but if you're spending a lot of time driving or doing housework or whatever, you can get some reading done with listening to audiobooks while doing that.
If you're new to audiobooks and don't want to spend a lot of money on them because you don't know if you'll like them, I recommend checking out the audiobooks they have on Spotify because they're absolutely free.

So those were my top tips on how to read more. You probably heard some of them before but maybe I could still help you out a bit.
If you have any more tips, I would love to read them in the comments!
xxx