What Fuels Your Fire?

by Suzanne Warr

Our feet ached, our heads were swimming, and we'd had entirely too much of both root beer floats and corndogs.  We'd had a good time, but we were all State Fair'd out, and ready for the comforts of home.  But there was one more sight waiting for us, and when everything else faded to the back of our minds, it would blaze on.

She was a fire dancer, tucked over in a circle of grass within the flower show.  She didn't have the audience that the pot-bellied pig races could draw, but that was part of the magic.  As she danced and wove through the air, her tumbling torches became fire wisps, and her spell quieted little ones and muted conversation.  We were still.

Me, being a writer, kept wishing I could step outside myself and scribble frantically the words and feelings running through my head, while of course also standing quietly, absorbing.  Afterward I enjoyed listening to my breathless daughter, and seeing the dazzled looks of the little kids who'd watched quietly while she danced.  This, I thought.  This right here, is wonder, and transport, and the intangible magic that we strive to provide with story.

It will be my inspiration, as I head into the holidays and set to work on my next writing project.  Since I may even Nano this year, I know it will get a little crazy, a little frenzied, and at the end of the day I'll be done, ready to crawl into bed and call it good.  Each time I try instead to write a little wonder and transport my readers, I'll think of this dancer with her fire elementals.  I hope she can inspire you, too, and Happy Nanoing to All!

Ideas Surround Us

I'm a SAHM and sometimes I wonder, if I spend most of the time within the walls of my house, where do I get inspiration from in regards to writing? Sometimes, I feel like, there's a lot of blank slates in my head with no inspiration to draw from.

Then I remember the advice given by a presenter, Karen Hoover, at a conference. Inspiration is all around you if you look for it. 

So, here's a few things that came up lately that may end up in my books somewhere along the way. If not, they're just fun anecdotes. 

I stood in line at the dollar store to pay for birthday party favors, when I noticed a spider crawling along the gum rack in front of me. I took off my shoe, killed the spider, and replaced my shoe. I looked up at the cashier, the woman ahead of me completing her purchase and the woman behind me, who had now taken a large step backward. I said one simple word of explanation, "Spider," and all three women breathed a sigh of relief, that I wasn't crazy (still debatable;)). That can go in a book. 

Walking my daughter through New York City for the first time, (There's lots of fantastic ideas to be had whenever you introduce someone to a place or an activity for the first time.) she asked about the homeless man begging on the subway, the rats on the subway, and the impromptu street performance while we ate a pretzel at Union Square. Oh, and she saw Elsa from Frozen get on a bus. Any of these can go in a book. 

The other day I was listening to a song (a country one about This Ain't My Mamma's Broken Heart or whatever the actual title is) and I thought, there's a whole story I could write about a woman (the mother) who is a true Southern Lady and how she doesn't show the cracks in her soul when her husband dies and how that affects her whole family. 

Ideas can be found as I walk around my neighborhood, listen to music, go through the mundane housekeeping tasks, on outings with my family, at rehearsals for the musical I'm in this summer, waiting in the line at the store, etc. The possibilities are endless. They are everywhere, if I just open my eyes to see them. 

My task is to learn to strip away my tunnel vision  and see them. This is made easier by the simple fact that my kids are old enough to not cause me infant/toddler sleep deprivation. Wait until I get that from their teenage years! 

Of course, those will be rich idea years too. Think of all the stuff they might do that could be immortalized (to their ever-living embarrassment) in a book. 

Now, please excuse me while I go fold a load of laundry and think up the next scene for my book.

Where do you find your ideas? What will you see/do/run into today that could jump start your creativity? 

  

The Power of Color

by Michelle Wilson

I have used the same scriptures for years, and they are literally falling apart at the seams. Add that to the fact that I now need 'reader' glasses to see the regular print, and you can imagine my joy when I received a brand new set of scriptures for Christmas!

Until I opened them and saw a sea of black and white

As much as I love the scriptures, these new ones felt like strangers. I shared this with a friend who said she loves new scriptures, that they give her a chance to 'start fresh' each time. 

I thought about that for a while and wondered if that's what I should do, just start fresh.

But I couldn't.

So, I embarked on the process of marking my new scriptures. Yes, I sit them side by side and mark the new ones to match the old. My husband thinks I'm crazy. Last night, for just a moment, I wondered if I was.

Then I wondered  if my color-coding and writing was a crutch. Why couldn't I just start fresh? Why did I need to have everything colored and spelled out for me? I know many people who don't highlight or write in their scriptures, and I'm sure they know their scriptures well and love them, too. So, why do I have this need to color up my new scriptures? Is it my spiritual ADD? Or is it that I my forgetter is becoming stronger than my rememberer?

I know the new scriptures have the same words, the same stories. But I then realized that it's the words which fill the margins and the colors that light up the page that make he scriptures mine. 

Nephi 'likened all scriptures' unto themselves for their profit and learning. That's what all those colors mean to me. They represent the impressions and inspiration I've received over the years. They are the personal answers and guidance God has given to me when I needed it. The verses are the same, it's the colors and written words where the scriptures become my scriptures.

 I can't tell you how many times I have asked God about my kids, my family, my career, my life, and found the answers in my scriptures. I have received confirmations of His love and approval; I've learned that the Atonement is for me. Many times I will find the answers to prayers not in the verses, but in the impressions I've recorded in the margins. My scriptures aren't just stories and doctrine, but they are the way I have, and can continue, to hear Him.

Yes, I can start fresh. And I don't judge the people who do. Perhaps they are more spiritual and don't need the constant reminders that I do. Perhaps they can remember where all their favorite verses are (I am a very visual person and most times remember that the verse is 'the red and yellow on somewhere in Alma on the right hand side left column.')  Perhaps they don't like to color. If it works for them, I am happy for them!

But for me, I can't start fresh. I don't want. 

So, bring on the colored pencils and red pen, because I've got a lot of work to do!

Are you a 'fresh start' kind of person? Or do you color, too?