Two messages

There were two messages that came across to me very strongly a few days ago. One was that the creative energy behind writing, the spirit, if you like, comes from beyond - God, Spirit, a Higher Power or whatever you want to call it. I read it in two random books I have as sources of inspiration. No coincidence, of course. So... unblocking it and letting it come through is no different to unblocking energies in other ways, spiritually. Creative expression and spirituality... so many artists in history have claimed that a spirit moved them, or their inspiration came from 'somewhere else'... fascinating if you consider the energies of those who have passed (like Lois Duncan, one of my favourite authors when I was a teen, did in "Down a Dark Hall").

The second message was that I need discipline to write. God knows this is so very relevant to me! Self-discipline has never been my strong point. I was a procrastination queen at school and university. It was my intelligence that got me through most of the time, not hard work. And excuses... they're so easy to come up with! So... that's going to be hard. Especially since it's been two weeks or so since I kicked off and I still haven't managed to select a publication for my first writing assignment. Dammit. Well at least I have a fairly clear weekend coming up - might just make up for it!

I have in the interim, however, bought and looked through a wide diversity of London magazines - ranging from women's interest to spirituality to sci-fi to film to erotica to fantasy fiction. It's been very interesting! There are so many directions you can go in with writing. And looking through these magazines I'm really not sure what kind of writing I'd like to do, and for which publication! Erghh. I think I just need to bite the bullet and make a decision. It won't be the be all and end all of my career for God's sake, not an irredeemable choice, just the focus for my first assignment. But I so want it to be good!

I should also mention that when I bought my first lot of magazines from Borders, the girl behind the counter (who happened to be a freelance journalist) gave me some very useful advice. Not only did she tell me I needed to be disciplined (yes she was one of the sources of message #2) but she also told me that music magazines are great to write for as they offer a variety of writing opportunities like reviews, features and supplements, and they cater to both sexes. I still haven't bought a music mag. Maybe that's the next thing to do?