Skip to main content

Inspiration for Writing Found on the Road...

Amazingly enough, I found some inspiration along the highway coming to Wisconsin.
Could it be the time I had to think? Or was it the quiet novel we listened to on the way? Or, the long stretches of road? Or the time to talk to R without interruptions or chores.

Whatever it was, I found myself thinking of several stories I'd like to write. Not going to say a thing about them here because I've learned that talking about a story before it's written can give it the only life it needs and when one starts to write the story it folds in on itself. This is true for me, at least.

Raymond and I were reliving some funny events that took place in the fifties in our families and all of a sudden, I could visualize my characters having these experiences. When this happens you need to run for pen and paper or pencil and napkin or whatever.

I jotted down ideas on the back of our map and when I get home I can give them some body.

It's good to take a vacation. Especially driving in the car for eight hours. It's not only stimulating for that "I'm away from home happiness gene" but it also gives the mind rest from daily stresses.

For me it's been a much needed break, going to see our daughter and her family, and the added bonus of finding my creative "self" along the way.

Hope that you will take a day soon to find your creative self. Whether it's away from home, at the library for an afternoon of thinking and browsing, or a long walk in the woods. It all works the same. Get away from the busyness that you wrap yourself in daily and let your mind wander.

Blessings to you and yours and may your creative self always be present. Take the time to hit the road for some R & R.

Comments

  1. Love this essay. We travel a lot, as you know, and it is wonderful to have time to talk, meditate, read, listen to books, and overall relax. (Unless you're in traffic going over the George Washington Bridge, but that's another story!) I'm finding possible publishers for "Pairs . . " and feeling recharged myself. Have a great trip.

    ReplyDelete
  2. My creative self seems to wake me in the middle of the night...if I don't make good notes, it floats away with the morning light.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I learn something new daily about this writing life I've chosen. Even at this age.
    It's good to know others are traveling the same path.

    ReplyDelete
  4. So glad your muse found you on the road. I think it was Julia Cameron who said she loves to get in her car and drive, that the spaciousness of that is where she's most inspired. There's nothing like movement and a change of scenery for blowing away cobwebs.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I love it when the ideas come to me. I'm sure your ideas will make a great story. I, too, have to write them down or I will forget. We haven't taken a vacation this year and we so need one.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Barb.. Thank you for coming by my blog and leaving such warm compliments.
    I will have to come back and see what topics your writing about on my next I visit. I just love reading and getting inspiration for others. Isn't life grand?
    Until next time Happy Trails :)

    Sorry I just had to delete my first post... I saw some blaring mistakes in there!! Scary to make so many mistakes especially when your a writer!! :O)

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Building a story vs building a house

My latest book! Dear Writer:  Writing a story is somewhat similar to building a house. Or not! Remember this: when we give a piece of our story to someone to read - we expect them to see the whole. It's like building a house and offering a single piece of lumber to another builder. “Here, see the house I'm building.” SOME CAN SEE IT AND SOME CAN’T. Here's the thing: MOST CAN'T. This step is as necessary to me as breathing.  I need to give you single boards as I create them. AND I expect you to be a visionary and say, “Why yes. I see.”   I need you to see how special the piece of lumber is that I'm using and to see that eventually I'll add more pieces to make the whole.  Choose people to read your work who like the kind of stories you write.  There are as many kinds of stories as there are houses to live in. If you give a brick ranch to someone who only appreciates a cape cod then he'll have a hard time fitting hims...

Mother's Leather Britches...

My mother gardened all her life. It was one of her great loves, next to family, God, and country. Because she grew up during the Depression, she learned to use every last item from her garden for canning, preserving, drying or pickling. Every year at the end of the green bean season she made leather britches, dried beans that would keep for the winter. These were the last beans hanging on the vines. The beans inside had grown to full size with outsides a bit withered. They were beyond the stage to can or preserve, or even to pickle. Although her fried pickled green beans and corn bread were the best in the world. (Well, next to her biscuits and fried apples.) Mother started the drying process with clean beans. She would spread a clean white sheet on a table in the wash room and spread the beans out on that, giving them space to dry. Sometime she would carry the sheet outside and put them on a table in the sun to further the process. The next step involved needle and thread ...

The Red Christmas Cane/A poem

It's been so long since I've written a blog I'm not sure anyone will even come by. But if you do, know that I appreciate your reading. I was cleaning some files and found this Christmas poem I wrote years ago. So I'm recycling my work again. I love writing but have spent the last five months reading, reading, reading, hoping that by reading all sorts of different genres that my own writing will improve. I have to admit though when I get into a good/great story, I sink in and my writer self takes a leave of absence. I'm still working on the novel about Sweet Baby James, a baby abduction. Hoping I'm making the story stronger than any I've yet written. So here's my poem. Enjoy! Have a lovely beginning to your Christmas season and God Bless! THE RED CHRISTMAS CANE  I was walking around on an old cane that year Grumping and complaining that the holidays were here. I looked out my window and as far as I could see There were lights, stars, and ang...