in·spi·ra·tion
/ˌinspəˈrāSH(ə)n/
noun
the process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, especially to do something creative.
"You never know where inspiration will come from.”
When I’m writing, anything can inspire me. I’ll be stuck in a scene where my characters are in a restaurant and I'll ask myself: What kind of restaurant? What are they eating?
And then a taco truck will pull next to me at a traffic light. Ah! Mexican! I immediately visualize my characters cutting through a burrito, dipping chips into guacamole—never salsa, don’t ask me why—and pouring from a pitcher of margaritas.
My most stimulating environment, by far, is my backyard. When I’m at my computer, stuck, I can walk thirty feet east and enter another world. Amid the peaceful swish of tree branches, flowers, and hummingbirds, I can usually cobble together quiet scenes and my characters’ more introspective, tender moments.
For help with action scenes, I weed. Only there, wandering through my own wild kingdom yanking those bad boys out of the ground, do I find true satisfaction. As each interloper rises from the ground, my characters plot, scheme, and argue.
Sometimes I’ll just drop my bounty back on the ground, run inside, and start writing. And then I forget, the nasty growth free to regenerate.
For next time.