We writers love to create stories. And why not? There is something fun about creating a fantasy world, living in it for a while, and inviting others to join us there.

Sometimes these fantasies bleed over into the real world, where we don’t quite live in reality.

Here is one of the fantasies we love: We sit down to write, and all of a sudden, we feel magically inspired with an endless supply of motivation and great ideas.

But it doesn’t always work that way. Most of the time, we sit down to write and don’t feel the creative juices flow immediately. Then we assume we’re not talented or creative.

On our worst days, we even start to wonder if we should be writing in the first place.

Stephen King gave us some incredible wisdom when he said, “Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work.”

Inspiration doesn’t usually come on the front end of writing. Instead, we have to sit down and get to work. After we have done some writing, the muse will show up and give us the inspiration to keep going.

In other words, you have to put some gas in the tank before you can go anywhere.

Inspiration is like the feather from the beginning shot of Forrest Gump. It’s a fickle thing that is blown in by the wind. It comes and goes as it pleases. You can’t rely on it because it’s so unpredictable.

Here is a better system: Commit to doing the work and let inspiration come when it will. It’s what all true professionals do.