The Other Things

 The thing all writers do best is find ways to avoid writing.

Alan Dean Foster

Obviously if your a writer, writing is very important to you. You probably do a it all the time (or so people think). You may think about even when your not writing (at least). Some writers, pick up a pen or sit at the keyboard and just go.

Then there's the writers like me. We kind of. . .procrastinate. We can always find something else to do. Even though we really do like writing, it's not until we are in the moment of actually writing that we can say we enjoy it. It's just getting to that point.

But at the same time. Story is about life. Because life is a story. You live it everyday. So all those 'other things' you do. Work. School. Hobbies. Family and friends. Driving down the road. Eating dessert. Staring out the window. Think of them as research. It's real life.

For instance I work, attend college, clog, practice guitar, watch movies and play games with my family, read, draw, walk in the woods, normal life stuff. Research. Some of my characters may do similar things. And even if they don't do the same activities, they may encounter similar situations and people that I have.

Not that you, huh, I should do so much research that I neglect the writing part. *cough* It fits into life too. Besides if you're stumped on your writing, it's good to get your mind off it for a little. It helps.

Creativity is the residue of time wasted.

Albert Einstein

But what in my research and, uh, wasted time has inspired my writing? The best way to find inspiration is to not look for it. Here's some times when inspiration came:

hanging up the clothes
watching superhero movies
listening to the radio
listening to a friend talk about their experiences
sitting in English class
reading history
reading other fiction books
talking with siblings (especially brothers, they always think up the wildest things)
looking at various art
looking out the window
walking in the woods
staring at the sky
feeling the wind
climbing trees
playing guitar

How about you? What 'other things' do you do? Where has inspiration found you?