Inspiration Boards: 3 Tips

Tired of staring at a blank wall above your computer? Maybe an Inspiration Board will provide, well, inspiration to your muse!

1. Make it large enough. My Inspiration Board is 36″ wide and 48″ high, leaving plenty of room for anything and everything I might want to pin to it. Some are items I need and some are there more for the coolness factor, but enough space allows me to pin both categories up. I’d advise the maximum size board you have room for.

2. Make it aesthetically pleasing. My niece made this beautiful board for me using a piece of donnacona from a building center. Donnacona is an acoustical product sold in 4’x8′ sheets and holds push pins well. My niece covered my board with linen (stapled on the back) so the pin marks wouldn’t remain in the fabric when rearranged, and she added two strips of fabric that I love to look at. She also covered pins with the matching fabric for just a bit more coordination and fun!

3. Make it useful. This board represents many of the items I needed on hand for writing the novella. You’ll notice my Hartline Literary agreement on the top right–because I find that inspiring! Below it are three maps of the Osage Beach on Lake of the Ozarks, each zoomed in a little more than the last, to help me orient myself with the area.There’s also a floorplan of my main character’s condo, a print-out of the anthology’s cover–BIG inspiration there, lol!–and printed images of two actors that my characters look like. Add the novella’s title and a reference to geocaching (and a few note cards with helps on them), and I’ve had something truly inspirational to look at for the past few months!

Now that Topaz Treasure (renamed from Treasure’s Promise) has been turned in–YAY!!–I’ll be rearranging my Inspiration Board for a new project.

Do you have an inspiration board? What inspires you?