Write or wait?

"Any productive writer learns that you can't wait for inspiration. That's the recipe for writer's block." --Susan Sontag

This is something I always need to remind myself.

Although I write many things for deadlines that can't "wait for inspiration," I drag my productive fingers when it comes to my fiction, sometimes stalling out and walking circles while I search for the right words. Other times I find chores are an effective means to defer my writing, so I vacuum, make shopping lists, check the bird feeder—write something for my blog.

I don’t know what I'm waiting for. The elusive and fickle inspiration? Fiction and poetry, without a deadline, is correctable. You aren't forcing out words that will soon be off to a publisher—gone before you can say "let me change that phrase."

After I remind myself of work-don't-wait, I begin tapping out words and when I do, the ideas bloom, characters wake up, and I move ahead. Now to implement this principle and get busy with my creative efforts!

Here's a good article related to this subject.