I haven't been particularly inspired to post on my blog this past week or so which got me to thinking about what does inspire us? Specifically, what inspires us to write? Okay, besides the fact that for communicators the difference between writing and not writing is often a pay cheque. But I'm not being paid for this blog and YOU don't want to read my ramblings about the weather, home repairs and dog walks.
And yet - those are the things that often inspire me. A sunny day, a refreshing walk in the park or a successful repainting of a room in my house make me want to be creative. Writing is about being creative. It's easy to forget that part of it when you're stuck writing in formula - news releases, speaking notes, ad copy - all of it is often formula. Even worse, sometimes you can dust off a news release from two or three (or five) years ago, update a few names and it still works. How challenging is that? It's not something I recommend doing, I'm just saying that it can be possible.
I think the way to get inspired when writing something routine is to visualize someone in your target audience reading it. Imagine that written piece inspiring them to take action. Better yet, imagine them taking exactly the action that is the point of the written piece and then write to persuade that action. No action required? Then why are you writing that piece? Unless it is a blog, where people like me get to write for the sake of seeing my own words, you should have a purpose to your written pieces. Inform - yes. But being informed without feeling an urge to take action is just more white noise. Give it a try.
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