Inspiration is a funny thing. There are a lot of connotations to the word, inspire.

I could be talking to someone and say “You inspire me.” That person lives their life in a way that makes me want to do the same. They’re generous, or they’ve overcome extreme hardship in their life but it hasn’t made them angry or bitter.

Then there’s the way a writer thinks about inspiration. That’s the flow of ideas, concepts, tiny bits of what if. An example. A few months ago a blogger put up a picture of a bench that he’d taken. In the background was an old abandoned factory. Weeds were evident around and between the bench and the factory. He posted the picture, one he’d taken himself, as a writing prompt. I’ve been saving that post and a few days ago I pulled that picture out and wrote a Halloween type flash fiction story to that prompt. You could say I was inspired.

In interviews I hear reporters ask the interviewee, usually an author or artist, “So what inspires you?” I hope no one ever asks me that question because to be honest, I don’t know how to answer. “Nothing? Everything? The sun, the moon, the stars? A bench sitting in front of an abandoned building?”

As to writing books, I think my favorite is whatever one I’m currently studying. Each time I pick one up, a particular aspect of the advice pops front and center. Some tidbit is relevant to me in my particular point of ability. What is it that’s most important to me in my writing right this moment. As I grow as an author, that relevance is going to shift. Right now advice about how to write a full, rich paragraph that gets into the charater’s situation using showing not telling. That’s what I’m working on now so other aspects of good writing aren’t catching my eye. Oh yes, they’re all important, but my brain can only absorb so much at once. So, for the moment, showing not telling is my focus.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines inspiration as a sudden, brilliant or timely idea. In the Forward Motion group, we call those plot bunnies: story ideas that pop into our heads in the middle of mundane conversations, while doing housework, standing in line at the supermarket or mowing the lawn.

As to who is my inspiration, it’s my mom, my husband, my daughter. Where would I be without them?

The Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour is sponsored by the website Forward Motion (http://www.fmwriters.com). The tour is you, the reader, travelling the world from author’s blog to author’s blog. There are all sorts of writers at all stages in their writing career, so there’s always something new and different to enjoy. If you want to get to know the nearly twenty other writers check out the rest of the tour at http://merrygoroundtour.blogspot.com!  Up next: Jean Schara!