Wherever you are, whatever you are doing, invoke the Fires of Inspiration.
Those flames are no metaphor. They descend back from the moment Prometheus stole us light and heat, Coyote stole us the blazing playtoy of the Gods, Hephaestus (lamed and shamed by his family and his lover) stoked high his forge in order to make new things, to bring solid metal into the world where once there was nothing but unforged sheets of pewter and copper.
Perhaps its unlit where you are, perhaps physically. Perhaps you don’t know how to kindle a flame, neither with tools or with, and maybe you think you haven’t fuel.
Come with me. Slide through your physical skin, guided by the surprising omnipresence of your pineal gland, and find it: the fire within you is no metaphor. It’s not always kindled by the finest things in life. Sometimes it’s given spark by regret, by sadness, by anger. Doesn’t matter; all kindling is kindling, and kindling sings the bonfire that is inspiration.
And inspiration’s not always kind; what lover is? I can’t speak to yours; of mine, I know this truth: if I burn it hard enough, it shares with me its sears and scars, and I read that strange writing and make it into words I can share.
If I die writing, if I die seeking inspiration, then I’ll die with my words living on. Read them if you want; they will live after me, the parts of which I’m proud and the parts I wish I’d had time to change properly before my death, and that’s enough immortality for anyone.
Here’s my credo. Use it if you wish:
I burn, but the words fly free.
I love, but the words fly free.
I know pain, but the words fly free.
I know pleasure, but the words fly free.
I have lived to make words into ideas, and ideas into a chance to change our reality, and it’s enough, O, kindred, it is more than enough.
Give me joy, I will write.
Give me terror, I will write.
Give me anger, I will write.
Give me an army raised against me, the wind at my face, the elements themselves outraged at my mere existence; and I will write, I will write, I will write.
Onwards, my friends! To the next story we go!
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My name is Jeff Mach (“Dark Lord” is optional) and I build communities, put on events, and make stories come into being. I also tweet a lot over @darklordjournal.
I write books. You should read them!
I put on a convention for Villains every February.
I created a Figmental Circus. It’s happening this June. You should go!
