A couple of weekends ago, I was dancing my old writers block dance—staring at my excessively large monitor, eyes tired, mind weak. I was wrangling with two plot points I knew connected, but I could not figure out how they connected. After nearly an hour of rotating between a blank page and various Wikipedia pages, I decided I needed a break. I needed to get outside and sweat, so I went for a jog.
Jogging presents an interesting conundrum for me. Truly, I don’t like to jog. The voices of my former high-school coaches rain down upon my psyche with each step. “Take a lap, Huebinger!” But, I also have some of my greatest creative epiphanies while ambling along the various streets of my neighborhood. And within the first mile of my three mile jog, I broke through the writer’s block and discovered the “connection” I had been seeking.
Most of the second mile I spent chastising myself for not figuring out the plot connection sooner. It was right in front of your face, I thought. The third mile, however, was different as my mind wandered to how I find inspiration for my writing.
As I finished my run, I realized that I had never experienced as a true moment of “inspiration” at my desk. I came up with the idea for FATE’S PAST while driving down a beautifully scenic road in Oregon. I told my wife my thoughts that formed the basis for my current work-in-progress in a Sonoma vineyard after several glasses of pinot noir. And while walking across the Golden Gate Bridge, I thought up the idea for my short story “The Accidental Savior.”
Mind you, I do not intend to speak for all writers. This is just how I find inspiration. And for me, inspiration is everywhere but the desk.
So, I guess the CliffNotes version of the above is that I’ve found inspiration here:
And here…
And here…
But never here…
