What I’m Writing: Random Inspiration, Or That Time I Was on the Train Listening to Pandora

Sometimes, when I get stuck or I run out of steam or I feel like my book is going nowhere, instead of throwing my hands up (not like Miley) and walking away and refusing to think about it for days on end until I feel like thinking about it again, what I really need is a jolt of inspiration.

It doesn’t have to be a big jolt. It can be something as simple as a photo or a thought or a quote or a song. It’s really incredible how powerful just a tiny little something like that can be.

Take Wednesday night for example.

As you know, I’ve been having a really, really hard time finishing my Airplane Book. In fact, I started working on a different project (Ballet Book, y’all!) that I’ve had tucked away in my brian for quite sometime now, which I know is a big no-no, but I did it ANYWAY. (Muahahahaha!)

And that’s been going pretty well, thank you.

But on Wednesday night I was on the train back home and I’d gotten out of a particularly great yoga class and had had a decent day at work (meaning I only got lectured once!) and had eaten some sushi, but hadn’t procured a Thai iced tea because I didn’t have enough cash and there’s a minimum at the Thai iced tea place for cards, so I was a little bummed about that, but generally in a decent mood.

(I’m setting the scene. It’s important to do that, you know.)

So I get settled in on the train and I popped my headphones in and queued up my Sara Bareilles station on Pandora and then turned on my Nook to read some A Dance with Dragons.

And then this song plays.

It’s a song I’ve heard before and one that holds sort of a weird place in my life (long story), but I hadn’t heard it in a while.

And I’m trying to read the Tyrion chapter, but then I realize that all I’m doing is listening to the lyrics.

[NOTE: I’m pretty good at ignoring lyrics, but like having music on when I read. I have a weird sense of focus. Silence bugs me. I blame living in a sorority house during undergrad.]

And as I’m listening to the lyrics I realize the song is JUST. SO. WILLA.

And that was all the push I needed.

I have a feeling this time next week I’ll have a BIG update for y’all. 🙂