Where Do You Consistently Find Inspiration?

Where Do You Consistently Find Inspiration?

In response to a post on Pennwriters Area 6 HQ on Inspiration and Dedication: Creative Resources, I wrote:

I find inspiration everywhere: Broadway musicals, John Waters’ films, Christmas lights, Crack whores, Jellybeans, Rock stars, Liquor-induced visions and Carnivals; once a carnie, always a carnie.

…And yet, I find incredible inspiration in the little things, the things that inspired writers for thousands of years. A moment shared. A conversation overheard. A glance down a new street. A journey. A unroutine routine event. A friend. A family member. The littlest of things can be inspiration for writing. You never know where the next moment will come from, so you have to keep yourself open – and always carry a notebook so the moment won’t be lost. 

Inspiration comes naturally to me. I can stare a ball of twine and mentally turn it into something amusing which will almost always lead to something to write about. I'm very limited about what I can or can not write about when it comes to work related stories, though to be honest, they are almost always "had to be there" moments anyway that my many readers wouldn't understand. I try, for obvious reasons, to leav as many names out when sharing an antecdote but in the end inspiration comes to me like dreams, even when I am awake. 

People watching has always been a huge inpiration of mine. Just going at 6 am to a Bread Company and watching the various types that come set up their computers or just read a news paper wilo spark something interesting to write, and I usually don't disappoint, even if all I can get is a paragraph or two about an old man reading the funnies. Nights out and about (yes, even while I have been pregnant) have also managed t get me going on a topic or two about the evil that is alcohol and how much fun I have been having being the sober, teetotaler watching all the fools in the bar/club/restaurant. People facinate me. They are either sheep or wolves, though in my experience even the wolves are sheep in wolves clothing opposed to vice versa. 

Inspiration doesn't have to be about just one thing or another. There are just too many things available in the world today to find amusement or discussion topics in. Look at the world around you people. There is more to life than waiting in traffic or your kids dance recital. Dance to the beat life gives you and find inspiration in the music of life. It's there. I promise, You just have to be willing to hear it. 

Inspiration for a blog post can come from anywhere. Where do yours come from? Do they come out of the blue, or are they inspired by consistent “moments” and experiences?

I get a lot of blog story ideas from every blog conference and social event I attend. I meet so many wonderful people from all over the world and hear their stories, which inspire mine. For me, these are a never-ending source of blog content ideas.

I also find consistent story ideas and inspiration in the bathroom, as well as just before I fall asleep. I keep notepads in those places for when those gifts of insight happen and quickly jot them down. Memory can be so fleeting.

Your blog challenge is:

Blog about where you find your inspiration to blog.

Share the tips and techniques you use to inspire blog posts. In this blog challenge, I don’t want you to tell the back story of a specific blog post, but the techniques you use in general to keep the river flowing on your blog.

These blogging challenges are published weekly and are an attempt to kick your blogging ass. They serve to challenge your thinking and efforts in blogging and blog writing. To participate, start challenging yourself now. Today. Go for it.