Inspiration

I’m often asked what inspires me to write.  I’d have to say anything and everything.  It could be a newspaper article, a photo, an obituary, an overheard conversation, an event, a person.  There is no limit to my imagination.

Sometimes all it takes is a thought, usually on the cusp of sleep.  It seems that when I’m relaxed my mind is most active.  I’ve written many a marvellous scene in my head just before sleep and it is entirely gone by morning.  If I really want to keep it, I get up and write it down, which I’ve done often.  Inspiration can come at the oddest of times.

People, their circumstances, and their reactions to life events help to inspire my writing.  There is no end to the remarkable courage of people in the harshest of times. Nor is there an end to malevolence.  I think these two facets of human nature inspire me the most.

At times, places inspire me.  It could be the history, scenery, splendour, desolation or despair of an area that invokes a tale ready to be told.

On a recent journey I spotted a road sign and thought it would make a great title for a book.  It seemed to have ‘stuck’ and within days another story was writing itself in my head.  Book number six, perhaps?  I won’t reveal the title just yet.  I’m still working on book number five.

I think perhaps there will always be something to inspire my writing and therefore, the stories will continue.

 Picture:FreeDigitalPhotos.net