I know that 99.9% of the questions I can ask on here are entirely rhetorical, seeing as you the reader don't have much of a way of replying to me the writer, but I want to ask questions anyway just to get that big 'ol ball of thought rolling. What inspires you?
I think it would be ignorant to say that only creative people are inspired by the world around them to do creative things. Saying that would imply that any of you "non-creativors" (I will now trademark that phrase, natch,) see beauty or magnificence in the world around you and feel nothing, when in fact that cannot be true. I don't know in what ways a non-creativor would be inspired to do something, but maybe it is as simple for them as "I am going to organize my desk," or "I am going to call so-and-so because it's been a long time." I'll let you know what inspires me and what it makes me do. RE: my magical abilities and how they unfold.
Everything inspires me. Surprise! Actually everything would be... everything, so I'll narrow it down. I think my biggest inspiration comes from watching movies. And it won't be every movie that comes along, but a select few that really get me to think. For example, last December after I saw Tron: Legacy with my bestie Mark Plowman, that got me to run my ass home and start pounding out some chapters on my second book. A year prior, Avatar did the same thing, only that sucker made me bust a move on the finalizing of book I and I powered through that sucker for three months straight. I don't know what it is about a good, solid movie that can get me to start feeling and thinking about things with such clarity that I feel I can do anything. Shows the mark of a good director, I suppose. I remember seeing Inception and walking out of that theater just being wowed with everything around me, much like I was when I saw The Matrix with my brother Josh back in 1999. Creativity is such an amazing thing, especially when it is explored by someone else in a good way. That being said, your own creativity should always be pretty fucking amazing as well. I sat down to edit some of book III today and was honestly impressed by some of the work I had pumped out. Not to toot my own horn.
It isn't just movies that inspire me, though that is a large part of it; a lot of times it will be music as well. I could go on and on about music, but I'll save that for another day. For right now, I am just curious how many other people can hear a verse or a line in a song and have it resonate within them on a deeper level? For example, we recently started playing a song at work called "Yellow" by Cocknbull Kid. I have NEVER heard of this chick before, but one of the lines in the song is "I don't want to regret a life that hasn't happened yet." Those words are like poison to someone who has been contemplating their life lately and where the hell it is going, if anywhere at all. I hear those words and think so hard about what I want to do and how I can do it, because that is my greatest fear. I don't want to waste my life... I don't want to regret a single moment of it. So far there have been a few regrets, but they are far between and I am beginning to see how they have shaped me. Better or worse, that's up in the air still.
Outside of music and movies, there are the everyday things. The people that inspire me with their own creativity, like Caitlin and Shannon. The people that inspire me by their bravery and optimistic outlooks like Katie and Kyle. The people that make me laugh like Mark. There are a million quotes about friends and what they mean and all of that, but there is only one that I have always remembered vividly. Marcel Proust said "Let us be grateful to people who make us happy. They are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom." Well put, Monsieur Proust. And very true. I wouldn't trade in any of my friends for anything in the world, because they are the net I have constructed that catches me when I fall. And sometimes I fall a lot.
Finally there are the day to day things that go unnoticed for the most part but can make a big impact if you know where to look for them. I found myself incredible bored about a week ago when I had the day off. No one was home, so I went out to the back of the property with a blanket and laid down next to the corn field in the sunlight. The wind was rustling the corn stalks which were ready to be cut down and the air was warm. It was one of those content moments where no, it did not inspire me to paint a picture of write a new chapter, but it inspired me to take the time to appreciate the things around me.
To slow down, stop rushing, and just let life happen in that easy, effortless way it tends to achieve.
We should all be so lucky.
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