Instagram-spiration

I am about to make a public confession of sorts, but don't be freaked out. I could do MUCH worse things. Seriously... but I should probably go ahead and say what it is I do before you DO get freaked out. Okay. My confession is...

My name is Ashley and I am an Insta-stalker.

That's right. In the past month or so, I have fallen in love with Instagram. I actually prefer it over Facebook right now and if I didn't have so many Instagram-less friends in my life, I'd probably ditch the book of faces altogether and just look at pictures all day. Anyway... I've reached that point in my Instagram-love that I've started searching for EVERYONE on there. People I know... well... some of them. Bloggers I like. Authors I love. It's kind of a problem, but whatever. There's no malice intended, so I think my behavior is still acceptable.

Really, the thing I like most about Instagram is the fact that, because it's based on single-photo sharing, it's easy to find inspiration EVERYWHERE you look. Seriously. Some of my friends are great photographers and then there are the writers/bloggers I've found who post writing-related things. It's basically a treasure trove of cool things to kick a writer's brain into action. 

Furthermore, when I get discouraged with my writing, I like to so search Instagram for hashtags such as #writerlife and #writerly to give me a kick in the seat. OR (since I'm an Insta-stalker, now) I'll just go find one of the writers I follow and look at their posts. *Yes. I'm that person who will scroll all the way back to your first post ever unless you have 2,392 posts and I just don't feel like it. #sorrynotsorry

I am sorry about that hashtag, though. 

So, for all those who say social media is nothing but a distraction, I have to politely disagree in the case of Instagram. In fact, I'd have to say that that particular social media platform has benefited my writing.

Am I the only writer who loves Instagram? Where do you look for inspiration?