The Little Things of Inspiration

A couple of weeks ago I got this slip from a fortune cookie in our Chinese take-out order. Aside from obviously illustrating that the author of said fortune is probably not a native English speaker, it made a little lightbulb go off in my head. Eventually the sentiment made its way into Chapter Twelve of Twenty-One.

Why? Don't know. Just did. That's how inspiration works.

This pic captures one of the most important moments in my creative and spiritual life. Six years after it did, from memory only, it inspired this:

Not all inspiration is funny or pretty. I don't have a picture of one of these, but the DOT in Florida will by request erect a memorial marker on or near a spot where a motorist died in a car accident (I think they can only do it on public land.) These markers are white circles inscribed "Drive Safely, In Memory" followed by the deceased's name.

Unfortunately I live quite close to a couple of very dangerous roads, so they're all over the place here. It was seeing one put up not a half-mile from my house that actually inspired the idea that became Ghost Writer.

Anyway, the point is that inspiration is all around you, and often in the most humble or unexpected forms. All you have to do is keep your imagination open to the universe, and it will toss plenty your way.

Comments

nightsmusic said…

I so often hear 'write what you know' but I think a lot of writers also write what they've known. Without really even realizing it until someone points it out.

That little quilted piece is beautiful. Did you just find the roses in the tree? Placed or growing?

December 29, 2019 at 9:14 AM

the author said…

I've been adding little pieces of my real life into my fiction ever since I started writing, I think. Sometimes thy're tiny, like the goofy fortune cookie slip. Sometimes they're huge, like naming (with permission, of course) Cherijo from StarDoc after a friend in real life. I think we all write what we know in some way, even as you say without realizing it.

I found the roses just sitting tucked in the tree, no doubt placed there by a previous visitor to the spot. If they only knew what they did for me personally in that moment. It really changed my life forever. :)

December 29, 2019 at 9:29 AM

Love Means This

Invested in a couple of hand-dyed bundles from one of my favorite fabric artists. This one said "Make me into something for Valentine's Day." So I went for a quilted and embellished tote. I kept thinking about what love means to me as I worked on it. Here's the finished tote. Although I was tempted to embellish with beads and pins, I got sick and only felt well enough to do a little stitching every night. As I worked I thought about how often love seems disappointing to us, especially when it fails to live up to our expectations. But now that I've experienced love in many forms, I can say that it's made me a better person than I might have been without it. Love is a precious thing, and should be appreciated in all its forms. I am very grateful for the love of my guy, my child and my friends who have stuck with me all these years. That's you two, in case you're wondering. :) Also finally found something to do with a ve...

Other Stashes

Along with clearing out the spare bedroom and tidying my office and our guest bedroom, I decided to reorganize some of my stashes. This is all the yarn I have on hand, sorted by color. It looks like a lot, but lately I've been using up a minimum of half a bin every month, so this is approximately a year's supply. All of my solid color cotton perle thread. I go through a lot of this every year, too. I need a container in which I can fit all of it together, but I haven't found the right one yet. I won't show you all of my fabric -- I'm still reorganizing this stash -- but I went through everything and donated two bins of fabric I won't need to the local quilter's guild.

Store Closing Haul

The mega Books-A-Million store over in Sanford is closing, and offered an extra 20% off on their current stock -- all sales final -- so I went over to do some shopping. Safely but sadly there was no one in the store but me the entire time I was there. The Holly Jackson novel is for Katherine, the Halloween board book is for Oliver, and the copy of Garden Spells is to keep on hand because I give that book to everyone. The rest of the books are for me. I love Anne Cleeves, and the Galbraith novel sounded interesting (the first couple weren't, but I'm willing to take another chance.) The Escape Room is by a new-to-me author, plus it was cheap. The GreenCraft mag is just a guilty pleasure. Hopefully the smaller BAM nearer to me won't close. I don't buy many books from brick-and-mortar stores these days, but that's really the last one within reasonable driving distance.

Valerean

Search This Blog