Inspiration

Photo courtesty of
dhester of morgufile.com

I often run across the question - in books/articles, during online interactions, and when talking to people face-to-face - "Where do you get your inspiration?" Loaded question, and I'm pretty sure most people think the answer is simple. It's not. Inspiration for story ideas comes from a variety of places for me.

Music is a biggy. (It MUST have lyrics - instrumental music is emotionally meaningless to me - my brain translates it directly into math.) Sometimes a single line out of a song will trigger a "What if...?" and that's all it takes to have me chasing a rabbit trail, particularly when I'm driving and don't have a computer or TV in front of me to distract my thoughts. This happened last week actually. Those who know me know my love for country music. Even the sad, sorrowful songs so many like to talk down about. There are times I almost live with my MP3 player permanently attached to me.

Thinking about one such hang-dog song this past week as I listened to it, I thought "What if God got hold of them? How different would the outcome be?" Oh, cool idea! Two songs that immediately followed cemented the idea because lines in those songs meshed with the idea I had percolating. A variety of scenes flitted through my head.

At times, it's something I deal with directly in my own life that sparks a creative run. I've got two books that pop immediately to mind spawned by such things. I call them my "Christians behaving badly" stories because the events that inspired them were due to exactly that. Christians acting in ways they should NOT act and harming those around them. Often people's lives inspire me - sometimes as a warning of how NOT to be and what the consequences can be of such behavior, words, and attitudes.

Conversations, or rather pieces of conversations, that I overhear can be fun and often inspire scene ideas. They give me insight into the quirky workings of other people's minds. And people watching goes right along with that. Human beings are very odd creatures if you really watch them. They sure can be fun to observe. You can learn a great deal about human nature just by exercising the art of observation.

Sometimes I read about something in the news, and that will trigger a similar thought. I have to admit, though, that's pretty rare. In fact, I can't even think of any of those off the top of my head. I'm sure I could come up with one if I really thought about it.

Now, if only inspiration for blog posts came so easily.  LOL

If you're a writer, what sorts of things inspire you?

Christmas Story Hop

Grand Prize: $100 Amazon Gift Certificate!

Please join us in the celebration of our Lord and Savior, and rejoice with us our favorite Christmas movies and join us on a progressive Christmas story hop.

Here’s how it works:

1. Go to each blog in the order that is listed below.
2. Read the first section of the story. Then follow the link to the next section of the story.
3. At each blog, comment to get entered in both the Grand Prize drawing ($100 Amazon Gift Card) and to be entered in each author’s individual drawing. Your comments can be about the story. Or you can tell us your favorite Christmas songs or movies or books. You can also tweet and like us on Facebook to be entered multiple times.

Feel free to browse each author’s bookshelf.

Comment on this blog and you will receive a FREE autographed, paperback copy of "Beyond Hope" or a FREE e-book download of "Beyond Hope" from Smashwords, whichever you prefer! I love Smashwords because readers can download novels in multiple formats. 

Blogs to visit for the Progressive Christmas Story, "A Christmas to Remember", should be visited in the order listed below:

1.    Gloria Harchar
2.    Emerald Barnes
3.    Bonnie Blythe
4.    Anita Green
5.    Marian Merritt
6.    Rich Bullock
7.    Dawn Turner

My Favorite Christmas Songs

It's that time of year again. No matter where you go, there it is. Christmas music. If you're like me, by the time Christmas rolls around, you're so sick of most of it, you could puke. But I'll bet you're like me and have your favorites, too. Those songs you can listen to all year long and never get sick of them. (If only they were all so palatable over the long haul, eh? he he)

Two of my favorites are relatively new. The third is very traditional and has multiple renditions in several languages.

The traditional one that hits me deep is O Holy Night. I don't think anyone sings it as well as Nat King Cole did. What strikes me about this song is how beautifully it reveals what Christ came to do for us as well as how we should respond to His precious gift (fall on our knees and raise our voices in joyful praise).

The two songs I absolutely adore that aren't traditional Christmas songs but exemplify the meaning of the season are "Mary, Did You Know" and "Joseph's Song".

People have spent centuries speculating and talking about the kind of young woman Mary was that God chose her to be the mother of the Christ child. The Bible reveals her humble servant heart. The type of heart every single last one of us is supposed to have. Just think for a moment about the faith and obedience she showed.

But she wasn't the only one. And she isn't the only one I've often wondered about.

Have you ever thought about what kind of man God chose to raise His Son? Joseph was just as important in Jesus' life in many ways as Mary was. Think about the faith and obedience he exhibited, not to mention the love he must have had for Mary.

God worked through two humble, obedient people with incredible faith. It's amazing when you read scripture how often God chose the lowly of society to do incredible things. He chose a young virgin with a servant's heart to be mother to Jesus. He chose a humble carpenter to be Jesus' father. He chose a shepherd named David to be the king of His nation Israel. Jesus chose fishermen and tax collectors to share His message with a lost world.

As we think about the incredible gift God gave us by coming in the flesh to sacrifice Himself for our sins, how joyful and obedient is your heart? And who would He have you reach out to and share His love with?

So, what's your favorite song and why?

If you haven't yet read "A Christmas to Remember", check it out!

Participate in the Amazon gift card give away using Facebook or your email by clicking here December 13th through the 15th (be sure to leave a comment on this blog posting, too, to be eligible):

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