Goodreads asked Lian Tanner:

How do you get inspired to write?

Lian Tanner This is kind of a two-part question. The first part is about getting inspired to write a particular book. That seems to come from something jumping out at me - a particular place I go, or something I read, or something I see. I've learned to recognise the feeling now - it's a sort of internal 'zing', and it tells me there's an interesting idea there. Then that bumps up against another interesting idea at some stage, and the book starts to take shape.

The second part of the question is how do I get inspired to write on a daily basis. The answer to that is, I don't. Writing professionally isn't about inspiration, it's about sitting down and doing it. If it's a good day, moments of inspiration will come. If it's a bad day, writing will feel like trying to squeeze blood out of a rock. But the writing has to happen, regardless.

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