Inspiration

Inspiration

According to the Encarta English Dictionary of North America, inspiration is:

 “Stimulation to do creative work.  Stimulation for the human mind to creative thought or to the making of art” (found on the Microsoft Word Encarta Dictionary, November, 2011).

As a writer, I try to find different ways to spark “music” in me.  Something that I have realized that seems to never fail for me is nature.  Listening to water gurgle as it drifts across river rocks.  Hearing the wind dance through the wind chime hanging from my balcony.  Smelling cement that has just been bathed by the season’s first rain.  Feeling my fingers tingle as Winter tries hopelessly to freeze them through my mittens.   But especially, the brilliant colors of fall, burning like fire from the branches of trees that line the streets, freeways, parks, fields.  Out of all the poetry I have written, I think that Autumn and her vibrant leaves have been my most written about theme.

From the books I’ve read and my own experiences, finding what inspires can certainly help creativity percolate and begin brewing inside the writer. 

But, what inspires you?  What is something that when you see it, touch it, smell it, taste it, hear it, words or pictures automatically begin playing inside your mind?  If you can’t think of anything, now would be a great time to begin allowing your senses to find what inspires you!