What Inspires Me (Ecency Support Contest)

@ecency-star released a prompt today, in the Ecency Support Community, The Prompt, asks us to write about what inspires us.

RULES
❗Read the rules very CAREFULLY!

• Create the post in the Ecency Support Community
• The post should be at least 100 words length
• Share the link to that post in your entry
• Use the hashtags #ecencycontest, #ecency #engage
• Comment on this post with the link to your entry
• Only 1 entry per person
• No plagiarism!

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Source

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Inspiration
It's a pretty hard thing to discuss and really nail down because there are so many things that inspire me. As far as music goes, nothing inspired me more than getting better at my instrument; being able to pick it up and get something out of it each time was one of the biggest motivators to keep picking it up, and with that, I continued to improve.

Filmmaking and Music Videos were kind of the same. While studying Tv and Film Production in college I was pretty good and had an aptitude for it, especially by the time I got to my third and final year. Continuing my journey beyond college was the thing that really gave me the drive to carry on, especially since I was on my own and had to do everything, which helped me hone all of my skills while working freelance.

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Inspiration To Write
This article will focus mainly on writing, and how joining Hive helped me so much in many ways, which I'll try to break down.

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My Pre-Hive Writing Endeavors
I started studying Tv and Film Production in 2015, and the main reason to join that course was that I saw a Scriptwriting module.

I had an idea for a book I wanted to write, but, I knew nothing about character development, story structure, or anything really, other than the fact that nothing would happen unless I started writing it. So, using Notepad on my laptop I got started, I still have it, and looking back at it now, it's pretty terrible.

For about a year, I searched for colleges to study writing and found one English Literature course which I thought would be good. The only problem with it was, the first year was 7,000 euros, and I was broke.

Needless to say, that put an end to my dreaming, but I continued to write. Then, by happens chance, my sister was at an open day at the college I studied Tv and Film Production, and while flicking through the manual, I saw the writing module in that course and the rest is history.

Funny enough, what I was writing was a novel, and I figured script writing and novel-style writing were the same. I fell in love with scriptwriting, but love writing novel-style stuff, because I can let my imagination run wild. While writing scripts I always tend to wear a producer's hat, knowing that what goes into it, needs to be filmed, and that rule doesn't apply to novel-style fiction.

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After College
I continued to write scripts and stories, constantly learning techniques and practicing. Mainly, I focused on short films which I produced myself, but to push myself I wrote some feature films and pilots for potential tv shows.

One of the tv show scripts continued to a full ten-episode first season, and then I re-wrote and re-structured that into the first novel of the books I've been writing. The rewrite killed me, but by the end, it was worth it.

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Post-Hive
I discovered Hive about a year and a half ago, and it has been the biggest inspiration for me to write, and I have written so much in this last year. All the writing here has really helped hone my writing skills, on top of the critiques and constructive critism I've received from so many great people here.

Most days I sit down to write a story or post, with no idea what will come out, but I just get started and am able to come out with something. Sometimes I might save it as a draft, to go back to later if I'm just not feeling it. Surprisingly enough, there have been a lot of times I've started one short story, only to find inspiration in another idea almost immediately after starting and most of the time, it's better to switch over to the new idea, even if I'm nearly finished the current one.

The reason for this is that passion and inspiration for an idea makes the process effortless. Writing an idea that I'm not too pleased with can be like sitting on the toilet while constipated - you can sit there all day, and something will come out, but it won't be enjoyable and may even hurt.

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Amateur vs professional writing
I'm not a professional writer or story teller, by any stretch of the imagination, but my attitude towards writing is professional.

I heard someone talking about the idea of 'writer's block' because at one stage I thought I had it because I went through a stage of not being able to write anything.

The author being interviewed said something along the lines of, "There's no such thing as writer's block; writer's block is an abstract idea that gives amateur writers an excuse not to write." It sounds tough, but to be honest, I believe there's a time to be nice and cradle someone, sparing their feelings, and there's a time to give someone a kick up the arse. What I needed at that time was a kick up the arse and it has always stuck with me.

I think they even used Stephen King as an example of a professional writer. He sits down at his computer or typewriter, every day and writes, regardless of how he's feeling. Sometimes the ideas can be bad and unused, but he still does it.

That's what inspired me to write every day, especially since joining Hive. The confidence to post my work publicly, and to be read by others helped to get over the hurdle of being unsure of myself, and from there, it has only gotten easier to share my thoughts and fiction. As well as reaching out to people and projects to offer myself, which has gone really well, and through that I've been given so many chances to work with different people on projects here on Hive.

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It's Okay To Be Mean, Sometimes
You can inspire someone by being nice and nurturing, but sometimes you need to be hard on someone, and the same goes for yourself.

Inspiring someone doesn't mean you have to sugarcoat something. Honesty is usually the best policy when it comes to helping someone. If you know someone who wants to do something and they constantly talk about it, without taking action, it could be time to take the gloves off and stop biting your tongue. I've noticed that anyway and it usually helps them get their arse in gear.