Creative Gifts You Can Give Yourself in 2025: Inspiration (both External and Internal)

The Playbill for Hamilton: an American Musical

I remember seeing the musical Hamilton years ago and being blown away. It was so creative, and made history feel very current and relatable and pretty cool, too.

And then for a while afterwards, I felt kind of stuck creatively. As much as I loved the music, I didn't listen to the cast album again for weeks. I felt overwhelmed, and got stuck in my own creative work, thinking: well, how can I compete with that?

I finally figured out that I don't need to compete with Lin-Manuel Miranda, and certainly I don't need to be him creatively. He's doing a swell job of being himself creatively.

My job is to be ME creatively.

To take inspiration from outside, things like the musical Hamilton, and consider how I might make history feel current and relatable and pretty cool in my own way. (Editors often call this our "voice" - the thing that makes OUR telling of a story uniquely ours.)

The other thing I've discovered is that inspiration works from the inside, too. One way I do this is by making a list of the things I LOVE and that inspire me about my current work-in-progress. 

I've found this is a great way to fall in love with a project again, and a useful strategy to get past feeling stuck.

So as we move into 2025, I hope you'll give yourself the gift of Inspiration -- both external and internal. And let your creative work be a celebration of the things that most inspire you!

Illustrate, Translate, and Write On,
Lee

PS: If you haven't seen them yet, you can catch up on the other creative gifts you can give yourself in 2025 series; Community, Time to Play, and Education on the Craft and Business of Children's Books.