Like most things in life, inspiration rarely comes on schedule or with a sign letting everyone know that it is coming. Which is just as well, since not everyone finds the same things inspiring.
One person might find the closing music in an opera inspiring, while her roommate yawns through the music awaiting the inspiration of a perfect sunrise. Meanwhile, their mutual friend ignores both these things because she is inspired by the game-winning home run in the bottom of the ninth inning that was on television.
Here's the thing – based on that last paragraph, we probably assume some things about the three friends. Our first guess is that the person inspired by opera intends to pursue music in some way. We would figure the second friend is really into nature. The last friend was probably a softball player, or at least some kind of athlete or coach at some time in her life.
And all of that may be true. But it does not have to be. Inspiration can come from within your normal areas of interest, but it is not limited to that realm. The perfect song might lift an accountant to not just get through her job, but to excel at it. The perfect sunrise might give the single mother the strength to get through one more twenty-hour day. The clutch athlete's great moment might be a boost for a struggling businessperson to keep things going for one more month to find success.
Writers need inspiration on two levels: what to write, and how to write.
Having written a story focused on a baseball team, it is hardly surprising that much of my inspiration came from baseball games that I played in, watched or reported on. But there were other inspirations as well: a civil war television series, arguments I've overheard in restaurants, conversations by teenagers talking about their dating adventures, and even complaints by drivers in my own town who hate driving through traffic circles. All of these things, in large or small ways, influenced what I put into The Pride of Central.
But none of that mattered unless I would eventually write the book. And again, as one might expect, some of that inspiration came from other writers, but not always from other sports writers. From fantasy author R.A. Salvatore to dystopian fiction author Laura Campbell, writers in a wide range of genres helped get me going in the process of writing. Some did it by inspiring me with how they put a story together or simply by showing the determination to finish their novels despite all the times life tried to get in the way.
However, a writer need not find inspiration only in other writers. The determination to finish was also fueled by a singer who leads worship at one of our church campuses, records her own new music, and who has publicly dealt with the abuse she has suffered in her past. I borrowed some strength from parents I know who have raised eight children, homeschooling for much of that parenting journey. When I did not think I could quite see the whole process of publishing The Pride of Central through, I remembered a friend who has travelled to all seven continents.
It did not matter to me that those last three were not about writing. What those people did to get through (or still be going through) their individual races helped me get to the end of mine.
No matter what you are writing, no matter the circumstances in which you are writing, keep your eyes and ears open for inspiration. It may come from unexpected places.
Next week: Courage – what does it look like?
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