Thoughts on Inspiration!

Inspiration

— n

1.

stimulation or arousal of the mind, feelings, etc, to special or unusual activity or creativity     Many things define inspiration to each individual but I believe the above definition to be the most accurate. There are of course other definitions for inspiration but when I read this particular one the thought that strikes me about it is a sense of suddenness surrounding it. Isn’t this how any work is created?   I would also like to include the word MUSE as part of this whole inspiration event. We writers often speak fondly or heatedly about finding our muse or the muse having left us when in fact what we are truly lacking is the inspiration to carry an idea forward or to have one to start on at all. This may not hold true for all, but I would bet for a great many of us this is more often than not the case.   Inspiration is at all times our greatest companion as well as being our greatest foe.   When you have it in bountiful amounts and the words are flowing like wine from a full carafe, than life is exactly as it should be and the fever of creativity is alive and coursing at full speed through our harried, yet satisfied minds. The wrongs of the world are righted and when the fever abates we are left with something to share with the world. A shiny badge pinned on our shirts or blouses that screams, “Look what I have made!”   But what about when inspiration is nowhere in sight and the cold carcass of creativity lies crumbled to dust, blowing away with the slightest breeze and leaving your mind parched and desperate for its electric spark?   To me the greatest source of inspiration is and always will be the people I know. Just yesterday when looking for the start of a new story a simple conversation with a friend sparked within me a great idea. Afterward, I could hardly wait to put my fingers to the keyboard and start the steady tapping of newfound inspiration. The dam had broken and the synaptic sparks flew as an overflowing cascade of thoughts and characters and places filled me to brimming with the outline and details of my new piece.   And this is where inspiration is fickle. Did a conversation you avoided cheat you out of the next great idea? Did the one you just have suddenly strike a match that you will nurture into the inferno that defines you as a writer?   Well, one can and will never know. What I do know is I wouldn’t be as excited as I am now with the freshness of a new creation budding to life on my screen without that talk with my friend. And the stories I’ve written in the past such as Keeping Kara or the as yet unreleased The Need would never exist at all without past interactions with other friends.   The value of people is often dismissed in today’s society. As people are our life’s blood in this business, be it through their purchases or as in the many supporting roles played to help make a writer actually become an author, we can never overlook the casual daily interactions that might lift us to greater creative heights by merely listening and actual hearing with all our awareness.   Inspiration is all around us. Are you paying attention?