Writing Inspired by Play

At writer's conferences we're often reminded that butt-in-chair just may be the elusive secret to success, and that's absolutely true.  We also know that after the Nano high wears off and the euphoria of typing The End fades away, there will be months upon months of revisions followed by months upon months of work spent querying, submitting, and/or working to get that manuscript published.  Only to repeat all those months and months over again, with that manuscript, and possibly (probably?) tearfully setting it aside in order to plow into more months of rejections and elbow grease on a new manuscript.  And I really hate to say it, but most of that will not be fun.  Or even fair.

So, can writing be fun?  Is it playful?  Well, obviously not all of it!  Not unless you've got some really crazy definition of fun, and also like paper cuts, blistering sunburns, and seeing small dead animals on the road.

But writing can (and maybe should) owe inspiration to fun, and even in the query woes and at that stage of revision where burning is too good for your book, writing can enjoy the sparkly edge of play.  I'm talking about those moments when you're walking down the street and suddenly your writer sense (which everyone knows is second only to a spidey sense) goes crazy.  You've just seen something preposterous, or maybe tiny and dear, and it's sparked all kind of shiny writing ideas.  Woot for sparklies!

Or maybe you're going about your serious day in your serious life, and someone surprises you.  Or you surprise yourself.  And it's not the bad kind of surprise, like waking up to the sound of your child vomiting all over their bedroom...when you have to catch a plane at 5am and just got to sleep...but rather, it's the good kind of surprise.  Like, when you've been trudging through a dreary day of rain and more rain, and suddenly the sun pulls up a corner of the grey sky and shines out, splashing a rainbow over everything!  Or, you're watching a parade and you see...

a grown man, walking on stilts, pretending that he's floating in an inner tube down a river...in the middle of the street.  Do you see the look on his face?  The way his smile seems to reach every corner of his being?  That's play.  And I think we all need it, but especially creative people.

We need it because without it, the well into which we dip can run dry.  And our oasis shrivels, and we find ourselves trying to build sand castles without any water to make the sand pack, or paint an image of a vibrant, mysterious jungle with nothing but one wilted leaf.

Finding play can be tricky.  Children help. So do animals, and people that smile at us.  But in the end it's about ourselves, our souls, and if we recognize the inspiration and power in play.  If we can step back from the daily grind of butt in chair and elbow grease to appreciate that sunlight bursting in, and the hilarious things a kid will say when woken by vomit at 5am.  Because play is all around us, once we've opened our eyes to see it.

Cherish it, embrace it, and let the laughter come.

Tell, me, what inspires your writing?  What makes you smile?  I would love to hear your thoughts!

Links for Focused Time Wasting

There is a lot of talk about how the internet is a horrible time suck, a devil waiting to distract writers from their work. This certainly is true. However, cruising the internet also can be a great way to recharge the brain or refocus and find fresh solutions to writing problems.  The trick is to set limits on the time spent online or the number of sites visited.

In the spirit of focused time wasting, here are a few blogs and websites I use for inspiration and recharging.

1. Strangest Situation--a practicing child psychologist and writer, blogs from her unique perspective about psychology, books and more. http://thestrangestsituation.blogspot.com/

2. Llewellyn—Along with the books they publish and merchandise, their website has a ton of articles on all things new age, paranormal and supernatural. Fresh articles are added regularly.  Also, many of their writers have blogs focused on various areas of expertise. http://www.llewellyn.com/journal/article_topics.php   and http://www.llewellyn.com/blog/

3. Archaeology News from Europe—All kinds of funky and informative news clips. Follow them on Twitter and click on the link when a topic hits your fancy.  http://archaeology-in-europe.blogspot.com/

4. YouTube—Yup, I’m recommending YouTube--as long there’s a connection to your current project. If you want a hint about my current WIP, here’s what I watch for inspiration. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZXKu9B-DEU&feature=related

5. Scott Eagan—He is a literary agent who represents romance (which I don’t exclusively write). However, I regularly read his blog because his advice is solid and inspiring. http://scotteagan.blogspot.com/

6. Heroines of Fantasy—Three sharp as a tack women writers blog about a variety of topics such as: food in fantasy, the realities of traveling on horseback . . . and they offer a look at writers and novels which break from the mainstream http://heroinesoffantasy.blogspot.com/

7. Stephanie O’Dea--last but not least, because we all know writers are short on time, this is a wonderful website with amazing techniques and recipes for slow cooking  http://stephanieodea.com

What are your favorite time wasting links?  Do you have a problem with spending too much time online or do you easily curb the urge?

Hotdogs & Spiders: creations of the muse or reality?

When I’m writing and come up with something that makes a scene shine and feels unique, I like to think it came from thin air, from a muse or some magical well of inspiration. But often--much like with dreams--I discover the real source of the inspiration is something much closer to home.

Last week, I wrote a scene where the only thing left in the fridge for breakfast was hotdogs. Personally, I hate hotdogs and the thought of chopping uncooked hotdogs into a bowl, covering them with milk and eating them like cereal is disgusting.

However when I finished the scene I was hungry, so I headed downstairs to make my breakfast. And, to my disgust and surprise, there was my husband standing by the fridge with a raw hotdog hanging out of his mouth like a cigar. I’d probably seen him do this a million times and shoved the image to the back of my mind—until my main character opened that nearly empty fridge and reached for her breakfast.

Then came the spiders.  

I have a scene in my WIP where a not so human character is laying on her four-poster bed watching spiders spin a canopy over it. Creepy and perfect, I thought as I turned off my computer and headed for my four-poster bed . . . Yeah, you guessed it.  

Last winter, I had a spider invasion that I had totally forgotten about. Every night when I went to bed, I’d look up and there’d be a couple of them glaring down at me from the ceiling. And it seemed last winter’s invasion had started again. While I was writing, my mind had registered a new web stretching from my headboard to the ceiling.

What about you? How often do you discover that your creative ideas have a basis in reality, even if you’ve temporarily blocked it from your mind?

For extra credit or if you’re simply curious about why spiders are inside your house, check this out.

http://www.burkemuseum.org/spidermyth/myths/comein.html