Tag Archives: #inspiration

Hope



The author sat at her desk, pen in hand, gazing down at the
fresh blank page in front of her. Snatches of ideas were scattered through her
mind. Fragments of storylines and characters but the words to connect them were
missing.

She took a sip of her wine and sighed.

Words and sentences and whole paragraphs used to flow so
freely from her pen…but that was before. Now, every word and sentence required
effort. Paragraphs were exhausting.

Closing her eyes, she offered up a silent prayer, a plea, to
her creative muse.

A movement at the edge of her consciousness caught her
attention. It was a figure, a young woman who seemed just out of reach.

“Relax. This is all going to work out. Look around you. Look
deep within. All those words, your gifts are still inside you. You’ve buried
them deep within to keep your unique talents safe but now is the time to trust
yourself and set them free. It’s time to let your stories shine once more. You
have so much still to give.”

“Who are you?” asked the author quietly.

“I’m Hope,” replied the woman. “Go on. Pick up your pen. Let
those words flow onto the page. It’s time to heal those emotional wounds and to
trust that you can reach your gifts. They are waiting for you to set them free.”

The author blinked, hardly daring to believe what she’d just
heard. Hope? Was it really that simple?

She took a deep breath, glanced down at the page, and began
to write. Slowly the words stumbled onto the page then they began to gather
pace…. they began to flow.

“Keep going,” whispered the voice in the distance.



 



Which author (famous or not) is your greatest writing influence?….hmm…

“Which author (famous or not) is your greatest writing influence?”

That’s the question I stumbled across when I was scrolling through Facebook recently. (Yes, I know I should have been writing and not wasting time scrolling!) I paused to think…

I went and stood in front of my bookshelves and gazed at the familiar titles, remembering scenes and characters from many of them fondly.

After a few minutes, I realised that I can’t single out just one author’s name in order to answer the question.

I drew up a list.

Here it is along with my reason for choosing said author.

Paulo Coehlo -for his encouragement via The Alchemist to chase my dreams.

Stephen King – for his encouragement to be a “storyteller” first and foremost.

Anita Shreve – for showing me the importance of a good house in the story. She has written several novels set in the same house at different points in time. Great books.

Diana Gabaldon – for teaching me that a story will be as long as it will be and a series will last as long as it needs to in order to tell the whole story.

John Irving – for teaching me its ok for your characters to have flaws, obsessions, bad habits and personality quirks. Love his books!

JRR Tolkien– for showing me the beauty of the use of language itself to tell a story. Lord of the Rings is the best written book I have ever read.

Kathryn Stockett– for inspiring me to write and develop characters you can hear in your head as you’re reading. If you’ve read The Help, hopefully you’ll have heard Aibileen talking to you.

There are countless others whose word has touched me in so many ways. At the heart of this creative path I’m walking is my fundamental love of books and a good story with good characters.

One other author I would mention here is Gregory David Roberts, for reminding me to persevere with writing the story, to keep going no matter what adversity you face and not to give up on yourself. If you’ve not read his debut novel Shantaram, I’d encourage you to add it to your “To Be Read” list. It’s a tome at around 900 pages but it’s a fabulous read! I first read it about 15 years ago and am currently re-reading it, something I rarely do with books.

If the books you’ve read haven’t inspired you or touched your soul yet, perhaps you’ve just not stumbled across the right storyteller. Keep searching. Keep reading. Or even better, try writing.

The world needs more storytellers.

And , yes, I know my bookshelves are chaotic! Ha Ha

Page

Page

Blank…

What are you hiding,

In those empty lined depths?

New worlds waiting to be revealed.

Old worlds waiting to be revisited.

Young love ripe to for exploration

Relationships that bloom,

Then wither through time.

Goodbyes to be said.

Laughter to light up the world.

Tears silently being shed.

A myriad of possibilities beckon

As I pick up my pen.

The writer’s blank canvas awaits.