Inspiration:

What inspires us to write? Why do some of us feel an overwhelming need to put our thoughts down in print? Personally, I’ve always felt that I could express my thoughts better in writing than through the spoken word. If I had a view on anything, I often tended to write it down as well as expressing it verbally.

But writing is not easy. You can sit for hours playing around on your computer and produce nothing. Then on some days, there aren’t enough hours in the day to get your thoughts down.

This platform, Medium, is excellent because it allows you to express your thoughts freely and invites feedback. That, for me, is probably the key. If someone gives me positive feedback on an article, it’s a motivation to do more on the subject, write a similar article or even do something completely different.

I was motivated to write about Ukraine after a comment by a Ukrainian refugee to this country. I’ve received a lot of good responses to the article I subsequently wrote and I plan to develop the theme further.

But today’s article was definitely inspired by an 88 year old lady, who knew my family before I was born. She read my piece on South Africa and felt compelled to call me to compliment it. Now the fact that she went to the trouble of getting my telephone number is to me, to use an American phrase, awesome, and will not just inspire me to write this but many more articles. I should probably have taken notes on more of the places that I visited which would allow me write better travel pieces but I’ll get by.

Similarly, I’ve taken notes over the years of interesting and sometimes amusing situations I’ve either overheard or been directly involved in. I have a healthy store of these that I must dive into soon. Often real life situations defy belief and as they say, truth can be stranger than fiction.

The real key to writing though, like anything we accomplish in life, is hard work. There is no point saying, ‘I can’t write today, I have no inspiration.’ Well, try a little perspiration instead. You might write nonsense but nonsense can be redrafted and made into something acceptable. The main thing is to get words down on the page; to get your opinion on something or your experience of something out there. If people like it, there’ll be positive feedback; if they don’t, try something else.

I know I certainly will and if I am concentrating on one person when I am writing, I know who it will be. Thanks T, you’re an inspiration.

P.S. This article is also dedicated to the person who gave me feedback saying they liked my articles but that they were too long. ☺