Emotion

Today when I was writing, I decided to listen to soundtracks. It's a common occurrence for me to come up with ideas via this route. The way the sounds make me feel will strike up an image in my mind, and then I can write about it.

It's amazing to me how the sound or the smell of something will produce an idea or a feeling. When you really think about it, the human mind is full of memories, and viewpoints.

Here's a really strange one for you. Every time I think of sneezing, I think of sitting in the backseat of the car with my mom and dad, pulling up to an old grocery store in my hometown, called Lammer's Food Fest. I can see the exact point on the road we are at. I couldn't really tell you why all this comes to my mind in a split second at the mention of sneezing, but it does. Perhaps I sneezed when I came to that point in the road. Maybe the giant "L" as the logo for Lammer's is shaped like a big nose and thus makes me think of big honkers sneezing. Haha...I don't know.

So when I listen to music, a multitude of memories pull together in my mind out of nothing. I think it's really neat to hear of C.S. Lewis putting together The Chronicles of Narnia all by starting with the image of a faun carrying packages by a lamp-post. That idea really carried off didn't it? :)

Creativity

I really admire people with a high sense of creativity. It really takes a lot these days to come up with a truly unique idea. I'm amazed by the amount of remakes and sequels there are in the movie theaters these days. And when you look at the line-up on TV, it's easy to tell that they have run out of ideas.

Sometimes I just stare out the window while my husband is driving the car and think of anything that I can. My goal is to think of things that people never thought before. If I can think of an idea and know that it was truly mine, it gives me a great sense of accomplishment.

In a way it kind of reminds me of when I was a little kid. One day I was strolling around by our mammoth-sized willow trees and a similar thought occurred to me. I thought about how everything I say has been said before by at least one other person in the world. The thought consumed me and made me so frustrated. In the midst of my angst I started jabbering the most strange sounds I'd ever made, just as an attempt to say at least one sequence of noises that had never been uttered before. Weird, right? Yes. But to me, it meant defeating the idea that everything has already been done.

My goal in writing is to do something that hasn't already been done. When I read, I don't want to read about things I already intricately know. Take me somewhere I never knew existed. Reveal to me characters that I will never be graced with the opportunity to meet. Make me aware of who I could be, what courage is, how beautiful the ordinary is, and how complex this life is. Give me creativity.