You may have read my previous posts for where to find inspiration and thought, “Well, of course. I knew about those.” However, did you know that a great source of inspiration could be with the very people you would like to publish your work?

While wandering around publisher websites, as I am wont to do on occasion, I began investigating romance and erotica epublishers. While I don’t write romance and erotica exclusively, most of my pieces lately have fit squarely into that category.

As I checked submission guidelines and looked at authors who had already been published there, I started finding calls for submissions. One company was looking for stories that centered around ‘exotic’ romances with a heroine from the US…

Ding! Ding! Ding! Score one for fantastic inspiration.

I found a specific call for submissions and immediately an idea began forming in my mind. Now, I don’t know if I’ll have the piece done, edited and polished before the call is retracted, but that’s okay! For me, it’s just wonderful to be writing something that is almost writing itself.

As the final ‘P’ to the three ‘P’s of inspiration, I highly recommend you go to (and bookmark) as many publishers’ websites as possible. Not only will you narrow down possible publishers that you would like to submit your work to, you could just end up finding the inspiration you have been looking for all along.

Best of luck with your inspiration. As always, please let me know if you are being published. I always like to share good news.

After talking about how inspirational people are yesterday, it’s probably rather predictable that I’m talking about places today. However, you wanted an answer to the inspiration question…

Having now travelled more than anyone I know with the exception of my husband, I can honestly say that I have experienced some of the most absolutely gorgeous and inspirational locations in the world. Places that made me stand still in stunned silence. There is so much on offer and I would dare anyone to travel a good amount and not get some sort of inspiration.

Second place only to people, places are the best form of inspiration. There is nothing like seeing an ancient building that has been there for hundreds more years than you have been on this planet or sitting beneath a gigantic tree that has been a silent observer to more than you will ever see.

If at all possible, travel as much as you can. Go to places completely different than what you’re used to. Experience different climates, places with ancient history, places with stories behind them… Travel and my husband are my two biggest loves in life and my two biggest inspirations.

One piece of advice for using places as inspiration: Take a lot of photos and notes.

The utter beauty of some places can actually leave you inspirationally overloaded. It is better to take pictures, notes, video if you have it and save it for going over later because you might find it hard to do any actual writing while you’re experiencing the place.

Everyone finds their inspirations in slightly different ways than other people. For me, the biggest inspiration anyone can ever start paying attention to is people.

People are so incredibly complex and I learned from an early age that you can never, ever tell what a person has lived through from appearances alone. I have met some of the sweetest hard rockers and some of the worst so-called upstanding citizens. There are so many stories in just one life, so imagine how many stories there are in the world.

I have the pleasure of knowing many people from the poor, small town community people to people who make enough in one year to pay for my dream house. I’ve held a baby in one hand while helping paint the trailer house with the other and I’ve pitched the company I work for to a high ranking employee of one of the biggest computer companies in the world.

There are so many people, so many possibilities; it’s almost beyond comprehension.

Hang out in the mall food court. Do you realize how many different types of people pop in for a snack or lunch at the mall food court? There are hundreds, if not thousands, of people who wander by and they’re all different! Talk about open season for ideas. Sit down, sit back and open your eyes.

If you’re still not convinced that people are an incredible source of inspiration, sit down with one of your family members – best if you can sit down with grandparents or great-grandparents. Ask them what they think are the most significant points of their lives.

You’ll probably end up being very surprised what they say.

According to many published authors I have talked to, one of the most annoying (and frequent) questions they get asked is:

“Where do you get your ideas from?”

Coming from non-writers, the question is an acceptable one. The writer’s mind is a strange place and non-writers don’t always quite understand how such strange and fantastic things can be created out of nothing in one’s imagination. Coming from an aspiring writer? Well, that’s likely to at least get you an annoyed, if not a dirty look.

Even so, the question is asked often enough for there to be standard, popular responses:

“Santa.”
“The Easter Bunny.”
“From the Idea-of-the-Month Club.”

Of course, the people who ask the questions aren’t very happy with those responses. They’re looking for something, anything, that will be the magic key to imaginative bestsellers.

The problem isn’t that there is no key, the problem is the key is just to look at the world and people don’t like that.

Having talked about various sources of inspiration with people, I decided to make it a little easier on the people who are just looking for a little help in the inspiration department. The answer will always be that everything around you has the potential to inspire you, but if you need a little more specific direction than that…

This week I am going to introduce you to the three ‘P’s of inspiration, so be sure to check back in to see what they are and to get the idea mill of your mind churning.

It would just figure that my muse would cost at least sixty dollars a night.

The past weekend I decided to take full advantage of time not for work but for showing my husband a little pampering. We went to the western district of Victoria, had some delicious seafood as well as relaxation and bonding time.

Funnily enough, I had some quality writing time, too.

We don’t travel a huge amount, so it has taken me a while to realize this, but I have found my muse on the road. At least, one of my muses.

Hotel rooms.

Strange as it seems, whenever I am settled into a hotel room, I have the urge to get my laptop and start working on something. This weekend was doubly pleasurable because I worked on a current project and roughed out some notes and scenes for an entirely new project.

All while on vacation.

I’m not sure if it’s the sterility of the rooms that lets my mind wander free of distractions or if it’s just being away from all the things on the to-do list at home. The quality of the room certainly has nothing to do with it, as I’ve stayed in beautiful rooms I would have never been able to afford to be in (thank you, contest win) as well as rooms that could barely fit the bed in let alone two people.

No matter what the reason, I don’t want to question it too much for obvious reasons. However, I did just recently get an electric blanket so I can work in the bedroom without turning into an icicle. I am curious to see if I am more productive in that atmosphere than sitting at my desk where I do my work writing as well.

Do you have any strange muses?