Finding Inspiration
From my second story office window, I stare out, wondering what I can write about today. Something that will convey how much writing means to me, something encouraging, so others will dig deep for that one word that will make the difference in a sentence or paragraph. We all know we can encourage others with words, actions, and successes. But can the word alone be a catalyst to inspire another to sit down and write something worthwhile? Maybe. Let's see.
My husband and I built our log house four years ago. The land has been in my family for a long time and it's a place as familiar to me as my own face. But today, while racking my brain to find the words for you to read, I began to notice things I hadn't given much thought to before.
A few hundred yards away is a decrepit woodshed my uncle built years ago. As a child, my cousins and I played hide and seek beneath its sturdy roof. Today, most of the roof is gone and one side is hunched over like an old man tottering toward eternity.
Before long, the shed will fall completely down, and like the old man, decay with time. I've seen this shed every single day, and not given it much thought, other than it becoming an eye sore. Today, as I stared at the weathered boards and the spiny rafters exposed to the harsh Arkansas summers, I remember my uncle and the childhood memories this shed conjured up. Wow. How cool is that? I could write ten or fifteen stories just on that shed alone.
Down the hill from my house is a small creek. Right after a rainstorm, it trickles happily toward the pond. During dry spells, it reverts back to being just a part of the landscape, full of leaves and small twigs the water carried part way, then forgot. It's after the rain that I stand on my deck and listen to the miniture waterfalls, close my eyes and just "be." Listening with the eyes closed can bring to mind all sorts of stories just waiting to be told--if you listen hard enough.
Mark Twain once said, "You cannot depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus." So close your eyes, listen to the tiny waterfalls, the birds, a gentle wind rustling through the leaves, and find your inspiration.
Sometimes, we get so caught up in our lives and the struggle of day-to-day living, we fail to stop and (no, I will not use "smell the roses") notice what is right in front of us. Take a second--look at something you see everyday, let your mind wander, and see what pops into your mind.
You never know, it could be the story that will sell for the big bucks. I hope my words have encouraged you. Now, get out there and see what triggers your imagination. I'm going to write about the time the tire fell out of the rafters of that old shed and conked my cousin on the head. Trust me--he deserved it.
Write What You Know
We’ve all heard, over and over again, “Write what you know.” Whenever I’ve heard that bit of advice, my first reaction is, okay, what exactly do I know? Apparently, not much. When I sit down in front of the blank screen and I am quite sure at that moment—I don’t know anything. Surely, I must know something of note.
Let’s see. I know that every Wednesday I have to do payroll. Is there any way to make such a hum-drum job exciting and a thrill to read? Not unless Tom Selleck is leaning over my shoulder, ticking my cheek with his breath as he gives me expert advice on how to jazz it up. What else? I know that the grass has to be mowed, the rugs vacuumed, the dishes washed, laundry done, and showers cleaned, but for the life of me, I can’t find a story in any of those. Well, Tom Selleck could probably help there as well…
Most of the time, what “I know” is mundane, unimaginative, and just plain boring. It’s the everyday stuff that we all do on a daily basis. Maybe someone could come up with something worth writing about where the laundry is concerned, but I’ve never found an “all new” way to clean clothes and I’m sure not going to revert back to scrubbing my clothes on a washboard. And so, again, the question raises its ugly little head. What do I know?
There may be things I don’t know about, but there is nothing stopping me from learning. There are no limits on what I can discover. I may not have known what spelunking is all about, but with a lot of research, I found out, thanks to books and the internet.
I now know that Jewel Cave in the Black Hills of South Dakota is the third longest cave in the world and the second longest in the United States. I know the names of the tools that a spelunker must have to assure safety when encountering dangerous sections of a cave. And I’ve found people all over the world I can interview about their adventures in caves.
Without setting one foot (you can’t pay me enough) in a cave, I’ve learned enough (and then some) about spelunking to write an informative and exciting article about it. There. Now I can write what “I know.” Because with extensive research, I can “know” just about anything. (Some things I don’t want to know—but that’s another article just waiting to be written.)
Maybe if I put the time into researching payroll, I just might find a hidden gem that wouldn’t require Tom Selleck to lean over my shoulder—but hey—let me have that little fantasy for a little while longer.
Just because you don’t know about something should never stop you from writing that article. There isn’t much you can’t find on the internet and by doing the research and by talking to people, you can become an expert (at least expert enough to write about it) without ever having to belly crawl through “The Miseries” in Jewel Cave. So, yes, I guess the advice stays the same—“Write what you know.”
Rejections: Do They Hurt or Help?
We’ve all heard, over and over again, “Write what you know.” Whenever I’ve heard that bit of advice, my first reaction is, okay, what exactly do I know? Apparently, not much. When I sit down in front of the blank screen and I am quite sure at that moment—I don’t know anything. Surely, I must know something of note.
Let’s see. I know that every Wednesday I have to do payroll. Is there any way to make such a hum-drum job exciting and a thrill to read? Not unless Tom Selleck is leaning over my shoulder, ticking my cheek with his breath as he gives me expert advice on how to jazz it up. What else? I know that the grass has to be mowed, the rugs vacuumed, the dishes washed, laundry done, and showers cleaned, but for the life of me, I can’t find a story in any of those. Well, Tom Selleck could probably help there as well…
Most of the time, what “I know” is mundane, unimaginative, and just plain boring. It’s the everyday stuff that we all do on a daily basis. Maybe someone could come up with something worth writing about where the laundry is concerned, but I’ve never found an “all new” way to clean clothes and I’m sure not going to revert back to scrubbing my clothes on a washboard. And so, again, the question raises its ugly little head. What do I know?
There may be things I don’t know about, but there is nothing stopping me from learning. There are no limits on what I can discover. I may not have known what spelunking is all about, but with a lot of research, I found out, thanks to books and the internet.
I now know that Jewel Cave in the Black Hills of South Dakota is the third longest cave in the world and the second longest in the United States. I know the names of the tools that a spelunker must have to assure safety when encountering dangerous sections of a cave. And I’ve found people all over the world I can interview about their adventures in caves.
Without setting one foot (you can’t pay me enough) in a cave, I’ve learned enough (and then some) about spelunking to write an informative and exciting article about it. There. Now I can write what “I know.” Because with extensive research, I can “know” just about anything. (Some things I don’t want to know—but that’s another article just waiting to be written.)
Maybe if I put the time into researching payroll, I just might find a hidden gem that wouldn’t require Tom Selleck to lean over my shoulder—but hey—let me have that little fantasy for a little while longer.
Just because you don’t know about something should never stop you from writing that article. There isn’t much you can’t find on the internet and by doing the research and by talking to people, you can become an expert (at least expert enough to write about it) without ever having to belly crawl through “The Miseries” in Jewel Cave. So, yes, I guess the advice stays the same—“Write what you know.”
