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Where Do Your Ideas Come From
You Have to Live to Write
“A writer, I think, is someone who pays attention to the world.”
– Susan Sontag
There’s no getting around it, you must really live in order to write. Walks, events, sermons, news events all make good fodder for writing, as does a good conversation with a friend, or lessons in a Sunday School class and outside of it.
I write a lot of fiction, but it’s often inspired by real people. My best friend passed away in 2007, but her essence lives on in my stories, as well as my Nonna and a few of my closest friends.
A few words can inspire a story or a poem. I also enjoy writing about events that I am trying to make sense of. In the past week, a good friend fell, thankfully not seriously hurt, and my best friend from Church lost her mother on Saturday. Instead of just sending her empty words, I sent her a poem with the note that if she needed anything, I would be there for her. Poems were the best way I could comfort my friend, but more than that I gave her space to grieve, but words came into play, not meaningless words, but words she knew were true.
In the absence of a connection to the world, I would not be able to tell the stories I tell, from the stories of our Sunday School kids to being there for someone in grief, to making sure whoever…
