We’ve all been there. In front of the blank screen, staring back at us daringly. And you wonder, what the hell do people write about? And as soon as you attempt a sentence, that nagging in your head changes to: nothing feels original, everything’s already been written!

At least, that’s how I’ve felt lately. What worked for me was to go back to the basics- remind myself of why I want to write in the first place. I think of all the books whose characters have inhabited my head and heart like old friends, of the songs so beautiful they make you dissolve. I made lists of some literary and musical inspirations, for next time that empty feeling strikes. Perhaps just looking at all the artists and author’s names will refuel me, or it can be remind me to listen or read their work to get that instant inspiration.

BOOKS

The Silent Patient, Alex Michaelides

The Neapolitan Novels (series of 4), Elena Ferrante

An Illustrated Treasury of Swedish Folk and Fairy Tales, John Bauer

The Virgin Suicides, Jeffrey Eugenides

Some Things That Stay, Sarah Willis

Belonging, Nora Krug

Where the Crawdads Sing, Delia Owens

Giovanni’s Room, James Baldwin

The Lying Life of Adults, Elena Ferrante

Maggie Cassidy, Jack Kerouac

Selected Poems of Anne Sexton

The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath

The Girls, Emma Cline

The Divines, Ellie Eaton

Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov

Blonde, Joyce Carol Oats

To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee

The Catcher in the Rye, J.D Salinger

Oskyld, Åsa Ericsdotter

Smälter, Åsa Ericsdotter

Kim Novak Badade Aldrig i Genesarets Sjö, Håkan Nesser

Doktor Glas, Hjalmar Söderberg

MUSICIANS

David Bowie

Lana Del Rey

Lou Reed

Iggy Pop

Francoise Hardy

Jacques Brel

Serge Gainsbourg

Dalida

Edith Piaf

Mando Diao

Weyes Blood

Frida Hyvonen

Hakan Hellstrom

Arctic Monkeys

Alex Turner

Leonard Cohen

Rufus Wainwright

Velvet Underground

Ted Gardestad

Thastrom