Dear Geist, How do prolific writers get their brilliant ideas and inspirations, in a steady stream, without any downtime, no matter what? Advice from experts always says to work hard, keep going, yada yada, but some artists and writers seem to have a direct line to the muse. —Grigor, Toronto ON Dear Grigor, “Seem” is the key word in your note. Here’s what Leonard Cohen once said on the subject: “If I knew where the good songs come from, I’d go there more often.” But what you can do is arrange a welcoming space for the great idea and the beautiful expression of it. Show up at your writing place, turn off your phone, be available, do prompts, do warm-ups, doodle, talk to yourself, throw down notes on a character or a place or a completely different project—whatever gets you going. And keep moving. You won’t get profound insights or surges of energy every time, but your odds will improve. Check out these tried and true Lit-Lorn warm-ups: The write time, When to write, Day job, Flash momentum, In style, Sustenance, Amazing Exploding Sentence; and/or search “writing prompts” and “warm-ups” online. (You can see/hear/read Leonard Cohen’s whole speech here.) —The Editors
