#67 Is the reason you can't write because you're out of gas?

I've been feeling like I'm in a slump lately.
I've been writing on note every day, but for the past few days, I haven't felt satisfied with what I've produced.

This is the kind of thing I want to write.
I want to write about this kind of theme.

I have that image in my head.
But,no matter how I try to put it into shape, it just doesn't go well.
Perhaps because I've kept it up for over two months, the bar I set for myself has become higher.

However, in addition to that,I can't even get into the novel writing I do as a hobby.
It seems I'm the type of person who can't feel at ease unless I'm writing something.
That's why,the current situation of wanting to write but being unable to is very frustrating.

This is likely a path that anyone who creates something must walk.
I've been through this many times before.
So, I know the cause to some extent.

It's probably,that I'm out of gas.

To write something, you need fuel.

Today is the 67th day since I started note.
At first, I was writing out of an initial impulse to give shape to my own thoughts.
By the time I passed the one-month mark, I was writing by picking up events around me and words or thoughts that came to me on the spur of the moment.
Of course, that hasn't changed even now.
However, there is something I had forgotten recently.

It's input.

Since I'm writing every day like this, I need a corresponding amount of input.
However, I was neglecting that because I was thinking about writing first and foremost.
I call this situation,"running out of gas."

Creation is the act of making something, butI think it is also the act of taking in knowledge and information.

Humans cannot function without eating and drinking.
Cars cannot run without putting in gasoline.

It's the same as that.
Creators use knowledge, information, and experience as fuel to create works.
Therefore, if you don't put in knowledge, information, and experience, you cannot create.

To write something,fuel in the form of knowledge, information, and experience is essential.

Examples of wonderful note users

In the case of Marika-san

Marika-san shares information and mindsets useful to many people from Master Ryuho Okawa'stotal of 3,500 lectures and over 3,100 books.In other words,
she uses those 3,500 lectures and over 3,100 books as fuel for creating articles.You can have high-quality output only because of high-quality input.She is a wonderful note user who does this every day.

In the case of Yuuan-san

Even while going through the painful experience of losing health and quitting a job, Yuuan-san stood back up as a multi-job freelancer and shares the realizations gained there as articles.
In other words,they use their daily work and past experiences as fuel for creating articles.
Because their writing style is pleasant, I can empathize and am strongly convinced by it.
Not only their past experiences,but their daily work has become high-quality input.
Yuuan-san started note around the same time as me.
I feel truly lucky that this person is a contemporary of mine.

Of course, there are many other wonderful note users besides these two.
I think the interesting articles those people write are brought about byhigh-quality input—the knowledge, information, and experience they have gained themselves—and high-quality fuel.

Input and output are two sides of the same coin

Therefore, I am convinced that the reason I cannot write my hobby novels is a lack of input.
I created characters.
I thought of a plot, too.
I try to write, but I can't write well.
For me, the reason I can't write is often that the setting is shallow.
To me, a shallow setting means a lack of information.

The same can be said for note.
Input and output are like the two wheels of a car.
If either one is missing, you cannot write.

As a result of consciously increasing my input through reading books and notes, searching the internet, and so on, I feel like I am gradually getting out of my slump.

Even so, there are times when ideas come to me and times when they don't.
To me,an idea is like a shooting star.
It zips by and disappears immediately.
Whether or not I can catch that shooting star determines whether or not I can create.

Input is also about increasing the number of those shooting stars,I think.