Inspiration

I seldom have trouble with inspiration, but tips on what to write about are welcome.

Daniel gave me a tip on writing as such today. He write a lot of legal documents in his job as a lawyer and needs to be inspired to write. Even when he knows what to write, it may sometimes be a little boring, he says. When this is the case, he recalls a quote from the American writer Jack London:

"You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club."

To go after inspiration with a club is, off course, a metaphor. Inspiration is something intangible, you cannot touch it, see it, or hear it, even though you can feel it. The quote means you have to force yourself to write, or whatever other creative thing it is you want to do. With an initial force of will, you catch inspiration and the words will come to you. I like this quote.

Nevertheless, I have some trouble with the club metaphor. It is not that I would hunt running, using my sharp canines instead of a club. It is just that if you use a club when catching inspiration, you beat it up. How is inspiration of any use to you, if you have clubbed it to the ground in order to catch it? Wouldn't there be a risk that inspiration would become unconscious? In that case, what do you do?

I guess I have to give this quote some further thought.