Humdrum Birthday to Me...

Birthdays stink. Not all the time and I don't mean that to be a blanket statement about all birthdays, but for me generally birthdays are cause for anxiety. I know I'm not like most people, though. So I wake up hoping that I won't be surprised, embarrassed, or abnormally noticed (I'd prefer to go completely unnoticed on my birthday but I've been told that Harry Potter isn't real and therefore cloaks of invisibility don't exist). This is a nearly impossible request when it comes to birthdays as the general rule of thumb is that birthdays are all about giving undivided attention to the birthday boy or girl. Everyone likes attention, right? Yeah, I guess I'm weird.

So that's why today, long story short, I'm writing this post from campus; I'm avoiding my roommates, I have my phone on silent, and I won't be checking facebook until much later in the evening. Please just one day where I don't have to think about how to instantaneously verbalize my thoughts or even deal with how best to respond to those around me!

I think that's the reason I enjoy writing. I sit. I write. I pause. I begin again. I backspace. I stand to pace and think. I begin again, again. I finish. And I do it all again in revisions. No pressure. Well unless there's a deadline, but even then I've found myself spending several relaxing hours "doing homework" without even realizing that's what I'm doing. In fact the last short story I wrote in class is the perfect example of homeworking without realizing I'm homeworking.

I have a meeting to get to in about 25 minutes so let me cut to the chase. A popular discussion topic for the casual/passing conversations in my Writing Stories class is inspiration. So many classmates struggle to think of where to begin, how to start, what to write about. I can't relate. I've never had this problem. Maybe that's because I've always had a way of internalizing the things around me. I'm a pretty internal person, you see. As a child I was inspired by concerts, movies, walks along dirt paths, lightening storms, grazing cows, song lyrics, book characters, imagined scenarios with classmates, church alleys, fictionalized versions of real life, dreams, ladybugs, farm cats, bus rides, the list literally could go on.

In fact inspiration for the short story I just mentioned (which will remain nameless for it is yet to be properly named) came from a combination of a drawing prompt (I don't draw) and an idea I had in High School for a fanfic (yep, there I said it, I used to write fanfiction). Now the end result is almost completely unrecognizable for either of these inspirations but they are a starting place.

Its like the writer who came into our class (Scott Wrobel?) said (and I paraphrase) inspiration can come from anywhere: plastic storage bins, a guy power washing his mailbox, etc. He wasn't saying that we should write stories about those things but they're a starting place. They help spark a greater idea that can become a character, a plot, a scene.

I need to get going but long story short: if inspiration seems few and far between the best solution is to stop waiting for it to come to you. Open your eyes.

Now addressing the issue of actually writing about these inspirations is for another time...

Jessica