About the Author:
Candy Arrington is a Contributing Writer for Focus on the Family's Focus on Your Child parenting newsletters. Additional publishing credits include: Marriage Partnership, Today's Christian, Discipleship Journal, The Upper Room, Encounter, The Lookout, Christian Communicator, Advanced Christian Writer, CBN.com, and Writer's Digest. She is coauthor of AFTERSHOCK: Help, Hope, and Healing in the Wake of Suicide (B & H Publishing Group) and is a contributor to numerous anthologies, including Chicken Soup for the Soul—Healthy Living: Diabetes. Candy is a member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors and is on faculty for the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference and the Glorieta Christian Writers Conference.

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Five Inspiration Killers — And How to Overcome Them
by Candy Arrington

Even the best writers experience seasons when they wander in a writing wilderness, uninspired and unmotivated. The bubbling spring of inspiration slows to a mere trickle, providing not nearly enough flow to prime the pen.

For those writing on spiritual topics, perhaps even more so, lack of inspiration can be a frustrating and embarrassing situation. After all, since we look to God as our source of motivation and creativity, doesn't an inspirational drought imply we've gotten in the way of divine guidance and are depending on ourselves instead? Perhaps the stream of ideas is clogged with emotions and issues we've unknowingly set in place.

So what components combine to thwart inspiration? Examine the following:

• Envy — There is a fine line between admiration and jealousy. Often, we praise successful writers with our mouths, while loathing them in our hearts. Looking at other writers' accomplishments can inspire and challenge. Conversely, envy can sprout and mushroom to an overwhelming level. Envy perhaps proves to be our worst writing enemy because it causes us to waste time and energy coveting other writers' successes instead of focusing on our own writing endeavors.
  
  Novelist James Scott Bell says, "Envy is the most useless of emotions, causing the soul to clench and the writing to come from a sort of desperation. Never compare yourself to another writer. Use yourself as a measure; seek to become a better writer. That's a life long pursuit that won't leave you any time for envy."
  
  Rather than falling into the envy trap, learn from successful writers. Study their style and see why it works. Read anything they've written about how they approach the writing process, their sources of inspiration, and the mechanics of writing. Then use the information you've garnered by incorporating those elements in your writing, while infusing your own personal style. Believe that with knowledge and persistence, you too, will enjoy writing success.
   
• Fear — Most of us struggle with fear in some area of our lives. Fear immobilizes and is usually rooted in self-sufficiency. Writing fears lead to anxiety about producing less than stellar work, fear of criticism, and rejection avoidance. For many writers, procrastination is one of the most detrimental by-products of fear. Some put off writing and submitting because they fear rejection. Amazingly, others fear success. But fear negates God's leading in the creative process. Discover how and when God speaks to you. Perhaps it is in quiet moments of meditation just before sunrise, or while you travel, or perform routine tasks. Keep a pad and pen or recorder handy and chronicle ideas. Then, trust God to provide perspective, purpose, and productivity.
   
• Over-commitment — Failure to say no creates an impossible schedule that leaves little room for reflection and writing time. Writing on a spiritual level requires contemplative thought and uninterrupted periods of prayer. Spiritual writing also stirs from a study of scripture. If you're too busy to read, pray, and ponder, your writing suffers. Don't allow the urgency of life to rob you of inspirational moments.
  
  Speaker and children's author Vonda Skinner Skelton says, "I have a hard time deciding whether an open door is from God or just from life. Consequently, I tend to try to say 'yes' to everything, fearing I'll miss something God has for me. Then I find myself paralyzed by the stress of deadlines and schedules and the words simply won't come. The only way I'll ever have better control of my life and my inspiration is to accept that while God has called me to write, He hasn't called me to write everything."
   
• Perfectionism — Have you ever known someone who tweaks their writing until it loses the spark that inspired it in the first place? Perfectionism slows the inspirational flow. To calm writing perfectionism, start an idea journal, penning the first thing that comes to mind each morning. It could be related to a dream or an idea that dawns with first light. Scripture records God speaking to the Psalmist David during the night — "I will praise the Lord, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me." (Psalm 16:7)
  
  Realize no one else will ever see your words; therefore, they don't have to be perfect. Turn off your internal editor. Lay aside your finely honed list of do's and don'ts and just write.
   
• Self-doubt — All of us deal with some measure of doubt regarding our abilities as writers. Can we actually accomplish what we intend? Will our work be acceptable? We often remember the negative comments about our writing, rather than positive.
  
  "When I sit down at my computer and stare at the screen, I'm never sure if I'm really capable of transferring the interesting story in my head onto paper. Are my skills really up to the task? Can my words have the impact of opening the reader's understanding of my spiritual theme? Self-doubt can really kill my creativity. I have to decide not to let it. God has opened doors for me and I have to trust that he knows what he's doing. I get around this inspiration killer by reminding myself that I just have to be faithful today with the words. If I looked at the mountain looming in front of me, I would turn back. So I take one day at a time and put my heart and soul into the task at hand and leave the outcome to God." — Colleen Coble, author of Alaska Twilight.
  
  Change self-doubt into action by remembering you are not writing in your own strength. When you gain inspiration from God, you don't have to struggle to produce the perfect words. Instead, allow yourself to act as a conduit, through which spiritual writing flows.

By recognizing and dealing with these inspiration killers, you clear away the debris that hinders creativity and get the writing stream flowing again. Expect inspiration. And when it comes, seize it, and enjoy the creative process and its outcome.