Looking for Inspiration

I'm pooped.

The crap with my son just sucks all of the energy out of me. The energy, the joy, the "yay" all get sucked out by the drama swirling through our house.

Life sucks the weenie. Big time.

So, I'm sitting in a freezing Starbucks, hungry because I skipped lunch, and am desperately trying to find some sort of inspiration for my blog. I just know that if I don't come up with an entry, that guy who reads me in Poland will feel disappointed in me.

Where do we find inspiration? I'm actually not sure.

For years, the line: "He stood in the middle of the room and faced his three ex-fiances" has whirled through my mind. It's visited me in the shower, it's followed me during lull times at work, and lately, the line helped me fall asleep.

I cannot tell you how many ways I've fleshed that puppy out: I've imagined it as a contemporary romance, as a murder mystery, as a revenge novel, and lately as a Victorian era historical romance.

Ask me where the line comes from and I cannot answer. I don't know how long the line floated in my head, either, until I finally started a notebook to put my ideas for fleshing it out.

But where will the inspiration for the flesh come from?

Since I see the line opening up a Victorian-era romance, I've started listening to music from that time period (yes, you can download some from iTunes). I've also started a habit of reading books from that era: a few pages before each writing session. I try to think through what breakfast was like during that time and eat a bit like that (lots of eggs and toast). I drink tea while I write, while sitting most properly. In other words, I try to immerse myself in the time period as much as I can.

When life sucks one dry, look for inspiration through immersion. It'll assist you in finding an escape from this world and enable you to expand creatively.

Thank you for listening.