So you have embraced the existence of natural inspiration ways 5-8:

5. Don’t push (the river).
6. Get back in the flow by re-reading what you already wrote.
7. Take showers with pen and paper close by.
8. Clean your house — without guilt!

Now it’s time for the next and last (for our purposes) four inspiration-openers:

9. Let your writing “cook” while you’re doing other things.

10. Write down what gives itself to you in the moment it gives itself to you, without concerning yourself right then with where in the book it belongs.

11. Sing.

12. Think of your book with love and encouragement, even when you’re not writing. Bless your book.

9. Let your writing “cook” while you’re doing other things.

The deeper part of your mind — call it subconscious, superconscious, spacious mind, whatever you like — wants to serve you, to bring you treasures from here, there, and anywhere.

But you have to allow it to do so by letting your writing “steep” or “cook” a while, without demanding of yourself that you produce in a given time frame if nothing is there for you in that moment.

The subconscious will bring you treasures when you’re in a less-than-structured state — often, not when you’re sitting at the computer with your fingers on the keyboard demanding of yourself that you write “right now!”

It helps, of course, to “prime the pump” — to have written enough on your topic that you have some sense of it.

But at that point, let go from time to time. Do other things. Give this more evocative part of you room to scout up ideas and images and memories and dreams that will be unexpected but resonant gifts to your book. I know that I have gotten inspirations often during unexpected times, including while driving. I always carry a notebook near the driver’s seat, so that I can write down what gives itself to me when I come to a red light. Sometimes I just have to pull over to a curb and park long enough to get all that inspiration down.

Why while I’m driving? Is it the movement? Maybe. I think it’s also that my focused attention is enough taken up with driving that my subconscious (etc.) can come in around the edges — offer itself like a souffle I hadn’t even known was being cooked.

So when you get to the place in your writing process where you could use a bit of inspiration, and the “butt-in-chair” method isn’t doing it for you — let go for now, and go about your life doing things other than writing your book. Just promise yourself that when the inspiration comes, if at all possible you’ll stop everything for the moment, grab a pen, and write down what bubbles up in the moment it gives itself to you.

You may end up using these “cooked” morsels as-is, or they may suggest previously un-thought of things to reflect on prior to writing. Either way, you will gain a sense of trust that more of you is engaged in this writing process than only your cognitive mind.

10. Write down what gives itself to you in the moment it gives itself to you, without concerning yourself right then with where in the book it belongs.

When something “comes to you” from within, without your having to effort for it, it’s a gift, and you want to accept it. If you let your cognitive mind take the lead at that moment, you may lose the immediacy and freshness of what’s being given to you.

So remind yourself, if you need to, that later, you will figure out what needs to come before the gift in order to prepare the reader for it – whether the “what needs to come before" is:

an explanation
a definition
a heading that tells the reader, “You are here, now, with this new (but related-to-what-came-before) subject.”
And so on.

Knowing that later, you can piece things together to support the “jewels” that give themselves to you from within will free you to take advantage of the “un-earned gifts” that come to you from within.

(Note: The above writing came to me in just that way. Although I’ve called it #10, it actually came first; but I didn’t make it #1 because I knew that some contextual buildup would be needed to prepare you to receive this. So I wrote it down, just as it came, and then backed up to write what went before it.)

11. Sing.

Singing is not only about making pleasing sounds; it’s also about how you get to feel as the pitch and vibration of the notes course through you. In addition to its many other gifts, singing is a way of being tuned — of tuning yourself. If you focus on sounding a note and then feeling into where in your body it vibrates, you may begin to feel like the invisible strings of your being are coming into resonance: into tune. It could be a series of notes, it could be vowel sounds, it could be an entire song. You can play with it.

The point is to be there for it, not to put on a show for yourself. Singing is a wonderful way to tune your system and to feel the subtle shifts that come from that kind of attunement.

How does writing come out of this? When you are tuned to your true nature, you experience a sense of rightness. Nothing is out of place. Your mind is not caught up in past or future, your body is not constricted with fears of not being enough, not doing enough, not doing well enough, and so on. You are just here, being yourself in tune, vibrating along with the music of life.

After making these singing sounds, you might take a little time to become silent and feel the reverberation of the music that continues into the silence. These times are golden. You are ripe for inspiration; and when it comes, you will be able to recognize it, embrace it, and yield to the organic desire to give it form as writing.

(And if you want to hear some sounds I made to help with inspiration to make contact with your deeper Self and thereby find it natural to move into writing, you can go to the "Healing Sounds" page on my website and hear them there.)

12. Think of your book with love and encouragement, even when you're not writing. Bless your book.

Imagine that you have a friend you really love, whom you don’t talk to very often. Maybe you live far away; maybe your lives are really busy. But when you do get together, you are instantly uplifted by being with this person, who brings out the best in you and the other way around.

Let your book be that “person,” that friend. Even if you’re out of touch with it for a time — life has intervened, you’ve been in a “getting things done” mode, there are responsibilities that seem to come first, whatever — think on it kindly. Make it a point to remember why you wanted to write it in the first place — and that you wanted to write it. Even if you feel stalled, don’t know where it’s going, have enough versions written down to fill a bookcase, bless your book. It has a life, and at some point it will let you know that it does. Then you won’t be able to stop it from being written, even if there are more challenges along the way.

Let the book be your real friend, your true friend. It wants to tell you something. It wants to show you something wonderful (even if that seems hidden too deep to get to without excavation). It wants to bring you closer to what really matters to your heart and soul. You and your book are a co-creation. Smile upon it.

And it will smile upon you.

The Take-Away for Now

All these natural ways into inspiration can be applied to writing the book that’s in your heart, and to living your life as well. When you are alert to the possibility of inspiration, it will find you. Your welcoming it makes all the difference. Allow yourself to have this inspired support. Open the door.

Which of these suggestions speak to you? Do you have your own openings to creative inspiration that you'd like to share with me? You can do so in the Comments section, below.

INSPIRED TO WRITE YOUR BOOK?
BUT DON’T WANT TO GO THROUGH IT ALL ALONE?

I help people who value the inner life write the book of their heart. Together, we listen out what's there wanting to be written. And we discover your natural ways of creating, so you can be even more of yourself) in the process. Because you are essential to the writing of your book. And only you can do it.

As the creator of the "Writing from the Deeper Self" process, with over 30 years in the publications field, I have worked with many wonderful authors (often, first-time authors) whose books are now in print. I also provide help with self-publishing.

Contact me to explore how we can do this important work of birthing your book together.

Because it’s not only how many pages you write. It’s how much of you comes onto the page.