Category Archives: Inspiration

The road to work is paved with whatever you want it to be

This blog is inspired by my not-so-inspiring commute to work.  And (why not?) En Vogue: back to life, back to reality, back to the here and now, yeah.

Okay, so the days are already shorter, the nights are cooler and the season we look forward to all year has zippered by. Back to work. Back in my car. Rolling past the same-old, leaving my thoughts by the roadside. Artlessly, taking every opportunity to read, I spend a good forty minutes glancing at and interpreting rented mobile signs—which surprisingly can pass the time and provide some unexpected entertainment.

Here’s what the local Dirt Depot has to say: “Hey Dads! We have Mums” (and they certainly do! Red, orange, and yellow).

Fall is here. The earth has shifted. The pumpkins have bodies. And here I am reading road signs on my way to work. We’ll call it research! My thoughts swirl in space and time. I contemplate direction. My direction. And I wonder IF I do not change my direction, am I likely to end up where I’m headed? This thought scatters as quickly as it gathered. Then, I find myself thinking about the endeavouring employee tasked with putting plastic letters on mobile signs. I wonder if he is laughing. Out loud. Especially this guy—dressing his sign with: “Our vacuums really suck.”

Today, I tell myself: “back to work” is a good thing. It means I am employed. I am eating. I am shopping. And I‘m paying the bills. And even laughing some mornings, finding humour in unexpected places—even if I am in my car and on my commute into the city…

Reading mobile road signs.

Drinking my steeped tea.

Contemplating direction… and the general course along which my thoughts have a tendency to develop.

Tomorrow, I may tell myself “back to home” is a better thing. Should that be the case, it will mean I have won the lottery. The jackpot of time itself.

B Jas

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Lather, rinse, write, repeat

I get my best ideas in the shower.

I don’t know what it is. Perhaps it’s the repetitive routine of my morning suds-session that frees up my left brain. Could be that the shower is one of the few places I can’t wear my glasses, and I’m not distracted by the world around me. Or maybe the soothing lavender smell of my new body wash leads my mind to far-off places.

Whatever it is, I wish I could bottle it and use it whenever I needed it.

Some people get their inspiration being active. One friend of mine gets magnificent ideas whenever she goes for a run. Honestly, when I’m running or walking, I’m concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other. I wish it were not so—I’d love to be brilliant whilst burning calories.

I’ve heard of writers who free their minds through cooking or baking. For me, that’s a recipe for disaster. I don’t have the skill necessary to whip up a killer guacamole and a surprising plot twist at the same time. Can you say ka-blooie?

I suppose I could try meditation. I could get into the deep breathing, the soft Enya-inspired music, and a scented candle or two…ha! Give me 60 seconds of that and I’m off to dreamland. Meditation may not be the best path to inspiration for the perpetually sleep-deprived.

So my solution is to hop in the shower. Making a slippery trail from bathroom to desk, I race to record those fleeting moments when I come up with something precious.

Jack London said, “You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.” Make mine a loofah.

What about my fellow Restless Writers? How do you find inspiration?

Maria

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