Idea Sparks...

What gets your creative juices flowing? Which reservoirs of inspiration do you draw from to prime your own pump? Observing nature on my daily walks with our wild Puerto Rican lab mix, Mr. Teddums, does it for me. ​Sniffing out the oddities of nature with Teddy, and witnessing the genius and humor of our Creator sets the endorphins zinging!

Dogs like chicken--Chicken of the Woods, that is, or by its formal name: Laetiporus sulphureus. 

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I thrive on listening to the podcasts (The Creative Penn) by writers Joanna Penn, and (Write Now! by) Sarah Werner, or Fiction Writing Made Easy by editor Savannah Gilbo. And hearing interviews with exceptional illustrators (like Sophie Blackall) in the children's picture book field helps me remember this process takes time--years of it.

Theodore Roosevelt is attributed to having said, "Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty… I have never in my life envied a human being who led an easy life – Endurance." 
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Microglossum rufum (Common name: Orange Earth Tongue.
How does the woodland air taste, my tiny spore friends?)

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Everything worthwhile takes baby steps of dedicated time. Lucky for us then, there are so many incredible resources along the way to help us. Each of those inspiring creators, I listed above, dives into the craft of creative writing, or illustrating and helps me overcome the resistance to create art--making the gears and cogs in my head whir with new understanding.

​A thrilling prospect is to lace up my tennis shoes, step outside with some earbuds, and smell the fresh morning air. Hearing others' new perspectives incorporates fresh knowledge into editing the second draft of my novel, and the picture book ideas I'm working out.


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Last week as Shmoo (the kids' second nickname for the dog) and I crested one hill on our walk, we were blasted with the spicy scent of freshly-cut field grass. How can something so simple make one's heart so swoony? (Or was it two hearts? Was Teddy swooning? I don't know. I think other things make him swoon like the kids' dirty socks stuffed into their shoes when they come home from school...)

Nature stocks up our wells of inspiration for later when we need ideas. As Shlub (Pup's nickname #3) and I stood there, breathing in the delicious scent at the top of that hill, I thought, What is the word my brain associates with this delectable scent? Aaaahhh,,,Honey--honey"suckle" (to be exact, from my grandparents' front walk in Overton, Nevada. From which my mama took a start, and transplanted it into our own front flower bed in Utah)! My brain holds so many years of stored-up connections of walking barefoot across the hot sidewalk of summertime past those enticing trumpet blossoms of nectar. Sensations and beloved faces come to heart and mind when we immerse ourselves in a few minutes of nature a day.


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Asclepias incarnata L. (Common name: Swamp Milk Weed)

That ambrosia scent on the wind was heaven, and brought back so many images and sensory experiences. If I hadn't gone walking that day, I would've missed those simple gifts of recalling actual places and time spent with people I love--all from smelling the zephyrs of the ordinary plants around us.

​​I couldn't see any honeysuckle, but that sweet cut hay was definitely reminiscent of it. And moments like those for writers and artists can add tools to our imaginative tool boxes for creating works of art at a later date.

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More Laetiporus sulphureus (Common name: Chicken of the woods, or Sulphur Shelf)

​Now in the future, maybe I'll use that word "honeysuckle" to describe a scene in my manuscript describing the sensation of standing in a field of freshly-mown grass or hay.

Just the word "honeysuckle" conjures up scenes of plucking blossoms, pulling out the pistil from their centers, and sucking out the teensiest drip of nectar from the petals' tubular ends--all on a lazy summer morning as a child, and later when my oldest kids were little. 

​Just as smelling that grassy scent of the wind in autumn is as similar to inhaling a wafting vine of honeysuckle in mid-summer, our minds make connections between two disparate objects or places, and recall similar sensations to link a visual and add layers of depth to a "sense of place."
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When...we pay attention.


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Who can identify this pretty purple 'shroom? Is it Cortinarius violaceus? Until one of you who really knows confirms it, that's what I'm guessing from my book...And don't anyone worry--
​I'm not picking or eating any of these mushrooms. I have too much to do to die a
dramatic, fairytale death half way through my life!


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​In all professions, we build on the brilliance of others, then add hours of devotion and tweaking to layer-on our own perspectives. That uniquely-individual outlook is what makes life interesting, no?

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​Not looking for perfection in art, so much as our own input after years of trial and failure, right?

Russula silvicola (Going off my Mushrooms of the Northeastern United States and Eastern Canada field guide book, "Russula silvicola" is the name I'm sticking with to classify
​ the blushing beauties above.) ​

​My family, several friends, and I recently loved what a spiritual leader (Elder David L. Buckner) shared with us a few weeks ago concerning making mistakes: "Fail. Fail fast. Figure it out. And fix it." (I'll take the liberty of adding a fifth F: "Forgive" (yourself and others). And what about two more F's? Go "forward" with "faith"--in art and life.

The Eye of Sauron in the woods? Nah, I touched it--
just an odd wooden nub growing out of the ground. Pretty cool, though...

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Clavaria amethystina (Coral fungus)

​Think about it, J.R. Tolkien created an entire world from his years spent in the trenches of war. Enlightening and uplifting masterpieces often come from pain, loneliness, and sorrow. As one mountaineer, Fred Beckey once said:  
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"Beauty is paid for, in part, with the currency of suffering."

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​Think of childbirth. That baby in one's arms is exquisite, because a mother (and couple) just endured nine months of slow, heavy waiting, and then excruciating pressure and "walking through the valley of the shadow of death" to get it here. Suffering as a payment for joy. Will that mama give up that baby anytime soon? Not likely. She sacrificed to get it!

Dacrymyces chrysospermus (aka, Jelly Fungi). I think my kids would call these "Blobby Babies!"

​C.S. Lewis wrote one of the best crowd-pleasing children's book series of all time. Perhaps because, as we all know, he wasn't exempt from experiencing love and loss in childhood. Even before losing his mother. As a four year-old, he lost his dog, Jacksie, who was hit and killed by a car. Clive demanded to be called Jacksie as he mourned his poor canine bestie, and only later, settled on being addressed as "Jack" when he grew older. That's pretty loyal, to insist on being called after a dog--what a huge heart!

​But Mr. Lewis didn't forget those feelings of love, hurt, and longing for that cherished puppy dog friend. And he deeply remembered how much he'd basked in the gentleness of his mother when she was alive. So locking away those emotions, he brought them out again decades later to write of the love and healing that Lucy, Edmond, Susan and Peter Pevensie all felt for Aslan--a character so giant, so gracious, so wise and merciful, that Aslan's love was a reflection of what C.S. Lewis felt long ago for his dog, and then his mother, then his wife (Joy), and last and greatest of all, his Savior, Jesus Christ.

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So as creators, let's pay attention to the world around us. And use the good, the hard--the beautiful and the disastrous--for the ultimate lifting-up of the best of humankind.

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One last recap of what can be gleaned  from Julia Cameron in The Artist's Way:

​"The quality of life is in proportion always
to the capacity for delight.

...The capacity for delight is in the
​gift of paying attention."


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So tell me what you've been learning in life lately while paying attention! And how that translates to joy.  Happy autumn, creative friends!

Much love,
Emily

​P.S. Don't forget to share (in the comments below) any fabulous meal planning techniques you employ to make family dinner time happen. Or jump to the homepage here if you missed the free meal planner...). And by all means, let me know if you have ideas to improve it...