On inspiration

somewhat actionable advice + Napa AMA

I’ve been asked where I find inspiration for writing. The short answer: everywhere, which probably annoys the heck out of anyone looking for actionable advice.

There’s a metaphor here. Silver Lake Reservoir loop, the other day.

The hard truth is that inspiration evades directions. You might have Waze, but that sucker’s an unmarked barn off a winding dirt road, and your phone just lost service.

That being said, there are things that I do to encourage inspiration to materialize, and you can do them, too. Results may vary!

• Write for a few minutes every morning. Longhand, pen and paper, before picking up your phone. BUT SHEILA I USE MY PHONE AS MY ALARM get an alarm clock. I use Hatch but an old fashioned one is perfectly fine. What do I mean by “few?” I write for the amount of time it takes to fill up one page, front and back of one of these notebooks (it was a gift, but now I’m smitten and thinking about ordering replacement pages, which seems unconscionable). That takes three to five minutes.

  WHAT SHOULD I WRITE ABOUT? Anything you want. I write notes about the previous day; what stuck out, who I saw, what impression they left. You could alternatively go stream of consciousness, a la The Artist’s Way, or free associate.

  WHY CAN’T I DO IT IN THE NOTES APP OF MY PHONE? Studies have shown that writing by hand engages the brain in a way that typing does not, especially when you’re typing on a device that’s riddled with pixelated explosions urging you to check this and that and something else.

  FINE BUT I DON’T LIVE IN THE 1800s SOMETIMES I NEED TO CHECK MY PHONE OR RUN OUT OF BED TO CATCH THE BUS — WHAT THEN? Then write as soon as you get settled. The other day, I woke up at 3 a.m. to catch a 6 a.m. flight and you bet your bottom dollar that I scrolled for mountains of minutes on my phone before my pen hit the page. That only happened once I was on the plane. It was fine. Establish the practice, then adapt it to fit your life.

• Walk outside. This sounds like the most basic, Cali woo woo ish on earth but some of my best ideas can be traced back to a walk outside, and not necessarily in scenic locations. Suburban cul de sacs, city sidewalks, Runyon Canyon — it’s all fair game. You never know what might spark awe, and awe, crucial to creativity, is commonly found outside. Think, birds! Or sign guys! It’s why you’ll find me at Runyon Canyon, Griffith Park, or the Silver Lake Reservoir more mornings than not.

• Watch something you wouldn’t normally watch. Professional corn hole. Foreign films. (I saw this Japanese film whose title translates to, We’re Millennials, Got a Problem? on a recent flight to Asia; hilarious, highly recommend.) A classic movie that you maybe should’ve seen but haven’t. (Scarface, in my case; The Godfather’s up next.) There’s surely some study about how getting outside your entertainment comfort zone sparks ideas you might not have had otherwise; it’s happened to me enough times that I’m good with anecdotal evidence. In November, a movie I chanced upon in-flight turned around my wayward third novel, and I’ll tell you all about that when promotion for that book ramps up and I’m tasked with coming up with creative ways to compel you to preorder.

So there you have it, the engagement chicken of inspiration. Let me know if it works for you — or how you go about courting the muse. And! Do you have questions about Napa? My first guide is this site’s third most popular post.

I’ve returned to the land of fine wine and fantastic crime and am working on a new edition, or should I say, new vintage.

What would you like to know about Napa? Ask me anything and I’ll answer in the forthcoming guide.