Circular inspiration
(Nimue)
When inspiration flows, it creates cycles. We might think about this as being akin to other natural cycles, like the way water moves through the world. Inspiration is supposed to flow and move, hoarding it doesn’t work. The person who jealously guards their creative energy will find they have less of it, not more.
It’s all too easy to feel persuaded not to share. Fear of the knockback, the put down, the ridicule. Fear of not being good enough, or ready. These are things to overcome. There are people who will try and knock you down just for daring to put your inspiration into the world. That’s their tragedy, but it doesn’t have to be yours. No one is ever perfect, or totally ready, and if you wait for that time then you never get to do anything. Your understanding will always be somewhere ahead of your ability, and that gap doesn’t close, no matter how good you get.
Like a fledgling bird, sometimes you just have to jump and hope that you have wings and can figure out how to use them. It’s good to remember that most fledglings get this right.
When we bring our inspiration into the world, that can inspire others. It might empower them to share something of their own. It might brighten their day, or spark an idea in then. The more we do that, the more we inspire each other, the more powerful this becomes.
Here’s a little story… back in the summer I was reading Steven C Davis’ Hurnungaz books. I was so taken with Caerne – his mad stag goddess – that I wanted to try and draw her. I wanted to get across something of her enigmatic nature, her ambiguity and strangeness. I waved this piece of fan art at Steven, because I know most authors get excited about fan art and it’s a way of giving something back.
What happened was that this image sparked something in Steven’s imagination, and as a result he wrote a small piece inspired by it, and asked if he could use my image for the cover. This piece has such rich and intensely poetic language in it that I have no doubt it will send some other reader off in another direction.
It’s a mix of pencils and oil pastels
