Inspiration

What Inspires You?

Inspiration drives nearly every major facet of my life.  I teach theatre because I find it to be one of the most inspiring forms of art.  Taking a story and bringing it to life with a group of people is amazing.  I especially love the organic nature of drama.  When my play Stuck was performed, I had envisioned the entire work while I wrote it.  I knew what (I thought) it would look like from start to end.  The finished play was drastically different, but that was good, since so many different ideas were involved in creating a new and interesting piece of art.  I do enjoy working with kids too.  Children have the power to inspire me, and inspiring them is something I aim to daily (occasionally with some success).


I am marrying my soul mate, because every time I see or even think of her, I feel inspired.  After dating unsuccessfully, and beginning to feel a bit like a character from a sticom (my summer drama students like to call me Ted Mosby), I was wondering if I'd ever find love.  When I first saw Rachel, I was coming down an escalator.  We'd arranged a date over the internet, but I only had pictures to go off.  My initial reaction was "please let that be her- she's stunning," and it was.  Every time I am with Rachel, I no longer feel writer's block or unmotivated, I feel inspired.  She is also a writer, and has encouraged me to continue being my best.  I look forward to the day when we can do book tours together.

With Rachel at the Huntington Botanical Gardens, California

I write out of a desire to share my inspiration in words.  There are times I have definitely felt blocked.  The first novel I wrote (currently shelved, awaiting the day I try a compete re-write) took me just over ten years, and even then it wasn't right.  I vacillated from periods when the words poured out without effort, to days when I'd dig into my soul with a pair of tweezers, yanking each word out forcibly.  At times when inspiration slows, I have found travel and nature to be my chief sources for reigniting my inspiration.

Barras Nose - taken from Tintagel Castle, Cornwall

My time abroad was undoubtedly some of the most inspiring memories of my life.  When I was accidentally stranded overnight in Tintagel (http://poetsfire.blogspot.com/2011/10/travel-to-tintagel.html) I climbed out to the edge of Barras Nose the following morning, fighting the fierce winds, and watched the sunrise from the edge of the cliffs.  It was breathtaking.

Sunset over Rome, from Piazza del Popolo

Living abroad was exhilarating: a week in Rome with Rachel; visiting the ruins of medieval abbeys in England; traveling to new and exciting places every week.  I did this all while working on the first draft of School of Deaths, and it definitely helped inspire the writing.  The location of the College of Deaths seemed to change weekly, as each week I'd visit a new and amazing place and want to set my story there (ironically, the location it ended up being set is not related to anything in that four-month period I experienced in Europe).

Glastonbury Abbey

Guy Fawkes' Day in London - 2011

Now that I am back in the States, and no longer traveling regularly, what can I do to remain inspired?  I experience moments where the words come easier.  My Winter Escape retreat two weeks ago, while brief, helped me reconnect with nature, and rekindle the spark of inspiration for my writing that was starting to wane.  Even at work, while inspired by theatre and children, there are days when I am in school so long I do not see the sun (I drive to and from work, which is a windowless building, in the night).  How do I keep my writing inspired at times like that?

For me, meditation has been one answer.  It helps me remain focused.  Making sure I revisit natural places regularly, even if it's a simple walk outside, also helps.  Spending time away from work and other stresses also helps me remain inspired.

Perhaps the key is actually recognizing inspiration.  Anything can inspire us if we let it, from the news, to a "conversation" over twitter.

Perhaps inspiration isn't the act of journeying in search of a muse, it's the act of recognizing the muse in ourselves.  Several years ago, I read Julia Cameron's excellent book The Artist's Way, which focuses on methods to reclaim your own muse.  Shortly after reading it, I found myself recognizing inspiration in daily life.  Stress can be a fog, but the light of inspiration is always there, once we look past the fog.

Again, I ask:
What Inspires You?

California Dreamin' - Part Three -Finale

(Day Six continued)

After Zuma Beach, and a lot of foot scraping, Heather, Rachel and I had lunch with Rachel Young- who readers of this blog might recognize as one of my housemates from Oxford.  The four of us had lunch, then we said goodbye to Heather.  Rachel drove us to Monrovia, California.  Of all the places we stayed on our trip, Monrovia was our favorite.  Rachel and I absolutely loved the small down, nestled at the base of mountains, just ten minutes from Pasadena.  It is the birthplace of our favorite grocery store (Trader Joe's), and a really nice place.  Rachel took us into town a bit, we went to a wine store, then returned home for dinner and a game of Settlers of Catan, which was fun.  I did feel a little outnumbered by Rachels, but I guess two Rachels are better than one.

Day Seven - Monrovia Canyon, Venice Beach, and Downtown Disney

On Friday morning, Rachel introduced Rachel and me to quinoa for breakfast- something we've now adopted at our home.  Then we drove a mile, to the entrance of Monrovia Canyon.

We spent about three hours hiking through the canyon, towards a waterfall and back, enjoying beautiful weather, wonderful scenery, and even interesting wildlife.  There were many lizards, and two snakes (I tried two take a picture of one of the snakes- it's labeled in the video- but I had no desire to photograph the rattler).  I loved seeing the mountains everywhere, as we walked through the canyon.  I was wearing pants, but felt immensely hot- it was our warmest weather for the trip.  After we left, I changed into shorts.


We then met Jacob- Rachel's husband- who had been away in Mexico the day before.  The four of us then drove past downtown LA, to Venice Beach.   Now in shorts, we all froze!  Venice was bitterly cold- the only truly unpleasant weather on our whole trip.



Venice Beach was a bit crazy as people say.  It was not Rachel or my favorite place.  We did like the residential section with canals, which is not far from the touristy area.  After the beach, Jacob drove us to Downtown Disney- which is a mall-like area right outside the entrance gate to Disneyland.  The shops are mostly Disney-themed, and it was fun to walk around.  Rachel and I bought our hosts dinner at the Jazz Cafe, then we all had dessert at the Rainforest Cafe.  I liked feeling like I was at Disneyland (we even saw the fireworks) without actually paying for the park.

Our Last Day - Huntington 

I need to pause my narration (which, incidentally, should be imagined being read in Morgan Freeman's voice) to mention the first picture in the video, which is a close-up on an In-and-Out bag.  In-and-Out is a fast food burger chain in California.  Normally such places wouldn't even get a second glance from me, especially considering how much delicious vegan food we had on our trip.  However, every single host we stayed with made a point of mentioning that I had to try an In-and-Out burger.  There's nothing there that Rachel can I eat, but on our last day, Rachel Young bought me an In-and-Out burger.  I ate it before we all had a picnic lunch outside of Huntington.  The burger was good, I admit.  I think the hype was rather amusing.

For our picnic, we opened the bottle of wine that Rachel and I had bought in Temecula- it was delicious.  We then went  inside the Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens.  The Huntington is a massive library and art collection.  They actually house two of Rachel's favorite paintings Blue Boy and Pinkie, though we didn't realize that until the end.  There's also a vellum Gutenberg Bible and lots of other neat stuff- but we didn't see any of that.  We went for the 120-acres of carefully sculpted botanical gardens.  In size it is technically smaller than the National Arboretum- yet the Arboretum is mostly undeveloped or un-walkable.  As an entirely walking area- where every inch is part of a garden of some type- the place was the most impressive and enormous botanical gardens I've ever seen- and it was stunning.  We especially loved the Chinese and Japanese gardens.  All of the flowers- especially the wisteria- seemed to be in bloom.  We spent hours walking around, ending in the enormous desert garden, which felt like walking on another world.  The Huntington was one of our favorite places- and a wonderful way to end a wonderful vacation.  We drove to Pasadena for dinner, then in the parking lot outside Long Beach airport, finished the wine as we said goodbye.

We left California for now, vowing to return, since we had such an amazing trip and loved it there.