A Writer Needs A Little Inspiration Too

People ask where writers get their ideas. I get them from life. My mind goes off into a line of questions. Usually started by something that strikes me with a special beauty or wonder.

I could be driving down the road on a drizzly day and be struck with awe at the small rainbow dancing in the field as I go up a hill. The rainbow stretches from one hillside to another, but hangs low over the tall grass. And I wonder, what would it be like if I could feel and touch a rainbow.

My cat curls up beside me. He's all damp from the rain, but fluffy and soft. I wonder, why did God create cats? Are they purely for my pleasure? Then I wonder if cats have a sense of humor and we don't speak cat so we don't know what their laughter would sound like?

I lose weight, I gain weight. I wonder how it is that my body was made that way. What will it look like transformed in heaven? Will our spirits be contained in some sort of heavenly styled body? Will I still be brunette so people will recognize me? Will I know the people I love on sight?

This is the stuff of inspiration. To follow our random thoughts and play with them. That's the fun part of writing. Playing with ideas.

The hard part is taking those ideas and creating some sort of cohesive book with them.

I'm finding inspiration from listening to other people's stories about their life experiences. Then they all get blended into a mish-mash of ingredients. The rough draft is the mixing of the batter. The story bakes as we expand and develop on a second pass through. Then we frost the cake by polishing what we've written.

But the ideas, they come from what we see and do and then playing with those things that stick out. Rolling them around as if we are rolling out sugar cookies. We cut them out and take the scraps and try again.

Ideas. They come from playing with everyday curious moments until they weave together into a story. Each curious moment another piece of a huge puzzle that we can't leave until it's finished.

So now you know where writers get their ideas.

Angie
PS Please visit me over at God uses broken vessels and Writing by Faith.