real and consistent inspiration
I'm sorry to disappoint you here but if I would know, I would write a book and earn millions on it. There are million ways of achieving this, all I can do is give you my method which will probably not work for you but anyhow:
First of all you have to ask yourself wether you'd like to "copy" any genre or simply try your own without taking ANY song material from other bands because this way you will always find that you fool yourself and not really writing your own true music that reflects you and you only. Obviously, I will only tell something about the latter.
Take anything out of your life you want to express yourself with. Be it dreams, feelings, experiences, political statements whatever... now try to associate music with it in an abstract way to give it an overall shape. Yeah, you can write music about anything and attach it to any style, that's true but for starters just stick with a logic that combines the vibe of your thoughts with what you want to create musically.
As far as songwriting goes... I reckon that you are pretty open-minded (judging from your Myspace) and do not limit yourself to certain labels, so that is actually something you can use to your advantage.
The first step seems quite easy too often. Either you have a melody/harmony or a simple riff in your head that you think could be usable and you write it down/record it whatever... or you just sit down and play around with your guitar until you find something that reflects your current mood. Keep in mind that both these "ways" are apparently highly conditioned to how you feel at that time. If you feel depressed it is easier to write slow, atmospheric stuff and if you're happy you'd rather play some very melodic stuff, happy happy joy joy!
No really, as far as inspiration goes, I'm in the same boat. I usually start with a single riff/melody/ whatever and see if I can work from there. In 95% of the cases I can't think of a follow-up that goes along with the vibe of the first without destroying it. So I leave my guitar and do something completely else to detach myself from the prejudices and from the initial impression of what I've written down after all. Sometimes I do not come back to an idea for days until I completely forget how it sounded after all. And when I come back and re-listen I'll decide if it moves me at all or if it is complete utter crap. This process is very slow and time consuming and still, quite often pretty absorbing but in the end it is the best way to achieve results that you are satisfied with, which is the single most important thing anyways.
I know a couple of (good!) musicians who do it similar so it can't be completely wrong, can it?
A little bit of pushing yourself to do something is important though. Even if you spend hours and hours writing on a piece just to find it completely useless afterwards. Doesn't matter. The experience counts. Just take these results and ask yourself why you dislike this and that and try to approach it differently with your next try.
And inspiration can be anything really. Maybe browse through Amazon and look for a good book or two. Doesn't have to rely on music as these "rules" apply to anyone who is stuck in his/her creativity.
Just look how the big dudes in the biz try to be efficient and pleased with their results. And even they often dislike their own older material. Take Mikael Akerfeldt for example. He just wrote stuff like a madman in the beginning and sorted stuff out being very picky all the time. That is a good thing. Be picky and choosey all the time. That's one big factor for quality in the long run. See were Mikael is now, he can go to a studio and fine-tune stuff from there, hell, actually write and extend material on-the-fly.
He might have been able to pull it off right from the first album but I'm 100% certain that it is much easier for him now since he found his unique style. I guess his next step would be just to take his music into yet another direction...
Another idea would be that you find yourself someone who could relate to your music somehow and take his feedback and ideas and see if they help you focus on what you want to achieve.
Don't force yourself too much and don't give up too soon. Try to find an instance where you are somewhat comfortable without rejecting your actions all the time.
Try different daytimes, different rooms (no, I'm not kidding here), different lighting situations (again, not a joke), drink a beer to feel more relaxed and stuff...you get the idea...
Sorry for the long post, can't put it in just a few words. I might add some points later on anyways
