Happy 2024! What better way to start the new year than by talking about inspiration. And not simply where do we find inspiration, but three sources of inspiration.
I have forever, and will forever, love hearing about a story’s origins. When I fall in love with a book I want to know what inspired the place, the characters, the events. Isn’t it fun to hear an author say the idea struck them as they sat in a specific place and watched [fill in the blank with basically anything that’s ever happened and it’s likely to have inspired someone]. That’s where my mind goes when I hear: book inspiration. But what about a source of inspiration?
A source insinuates a well, a continuous refilling. A place, or a mood, that is guaranteed to inspire the story muse. Now that’s a horse of a different color. And here we all thought simply being inspired was the trick!
Well, what do I do when I’m drained—besides take a nap? I give in to my husky pup and go outside. Like Jeffe said, nature refills my well. Fresh air combined with rain, sleet, snow, or sun revitalize me. I suppose gardening and getting my hands in the dirt fall into this category as well. But being outside, which pretty much always means I’m at least walking if not doing more, can unlock my brain like nothing else can.
As a runner up I’d say yoga is another source of inspiration. Not necessarily the physical act of yoga, though that feels fantastic and the more limber the body the more limber the mind, but the mental aspect is what I would pinpoint as the source. You can yoga with friends, you can yoga with goats, you can even yoga in a high temp dance-like studio. Or you can yoga and focus on your breath and slide into the quiet headspace where I’m emotionally and mentally refilled. You can call it meditation, though I’m still learning and meditate better when I’m doing certain poses since it helps me focus on my breathing or certain muscles and then suddenly I’m not thinking of anything else! Yoga is a source because when I’m done I’ve got clear headspace and am ready to create!
And in third place, which sounds sad, but really isn’t, would be reading. It doesn’t matter how wonderful or flawed the writing is, reading is a source of inspiration for me because it jumpstarts my imagination. Love them or hate them, characters interact with your imagination. Homey or alien, worlds make you feel like you want to hang around or run away screaming. And head-scratching or applauding, plot lines are like parallel universes, one choice spins the story in a whole different direction.
There you have it, my three sources of inspiration that I return to again and again. What well do you draw from?
