Inspiration

These last few weeks have had me thinking about where I get inspiration.  As a kid and teen, it was easy to feel inspired. I had a ton of time to read as a kid, and in my teenage years about 80 percent of my year was spent outside up int he mountains. Something about the misty mornings and warm sun in the afternoon was ripe with motivation and inspiration.  I wrote sorties about horses, animals, warriors and a million other things that popped into my mind. And I even finished the stories instead of giving up 2/3 of the way through!

As an adult, the general stress of life makes inspiration difficult. It feels like every time I sit down to write something else comes up that has to be handled.  So, where can a lady feel inspired again?

My kids

That's right. The very things that interrupt me constantly also inspire me.  And little traits of my family end up in my stories.  I wrote My Mother Is a Supervillain one night when my firstborn wouldn't sleep and even if he did sleep, I couldn't because all those new Mommy superpowers (*cough *Post Partum Depression* cough*) were swimming through my brain  making me wake up at the slightest noises int he night and bawling my eyes out every time I read the news. My comfort that night was holding my little sidekick close and imagining all the read things we got to do together. 

I Like My Headphones was a love letter to my daughter upon her entering preschool and her Sunday classes, sporting a pair of pink princess headphones. 

Art and its creators

I love art. Not just paintings and stuff. but creating in general. The ability that us mere mortals have to take basically nothing and make something out of it is extortionary. And every day I remind myself of that when I sit at my computer and take 26 letterers, some weird dots and try to make something that wasn't there before.

If I'm not feeling up to it, I bask in the creations of others. My favorite cartoons like Dc's  Young Justice, Avatar the Last Airbender, and Owl House, all of which holds up as meaningful stories no matter your age. I play games like Mass Effect, the most beautiful mess of perfect imperfect worldbuilding in gaming history. I listen to music  and musicals like Notre Dame de Paris, or the new and cool Epic The Musical where talented artists took the story of the Odyssey and asked, "But WHY did this all happen? How do the characters feel about this? When does a man become a monster? Also, can a god scream in pain  but also in Harmony?" (The answer is yes, by the way, and it's haunting.)

Now, do I sound like a crazy fangirl on these things?
Yes, yes, I do. But I've tried denying my fangirl before, being a sensible adult and all that, and let me tell you, denying your inner crazy fangirl dries up creativity like nothing else.

My own success and goals

I keep a little book, an old planner I didn't do much with in 2019. But what I did do it was cut and paste everything that made me feel excited about writing. Sometimes that means pictures that touched me, quotes from my favorite authors and creators, or just moments  where their words or excitement touched me.  Other things I keep are compliments or encouragement from those around me, the moment my Beta reader swore at me for making her cry,  if the time a critique partner pointed out something I worked so hard to  intwine within my words. These things remind me that I have a place in a creative world, a world full of people who create meaning and emotion from their time, dreams, and hard work. I'm honored to be a tiny part of it.

What inspires you to do what you do? What keeps you going when things are a little rough and tumble?