Inspiration, for Blogvember

[browngirl]

circlingfreedom asked me what inspires me, and I fear this post will not be the most fascinating look at a creative process ever, but I'll try.

I can't think of a time when I haven't been inspired. There's so much in the world, both the internal world of the mind and the external universe of life, people, nature, the universe… there's so much in history, in technology, in the future and the past.

I mean, look at today's Astronomy Picture of the Day, a human-scale panoramic vista of Mars. How many stories could one tell based on this image!

I often get stuck on how to express that inspiration -- when I get "writer's block" it's because I can't figure out how to arrange words to write a story or poem the way I want it, so when people give me more plot bunnies as treatment it's doubly frustrating -- but I always find so much inspiration all around. In the tilt of a child's smile, in the sweep of clouds across a fall sky, in a song's rippling arpeggio, in a star's twinkle through city light pollution, in the tingling warmth of sliced ginger, in the sugary crunch of a boiled candy. The world is so full. I just wish I could capture a slightly larger minuscule fraction of all there is around me and within me, to share with my fellow sentients.

Comments

[amaebi.livejournal.com]

What a good thing there are decades ahead of you. :)