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

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