I have some news- I finished the manuscript! It happened a few weeks ago, on February 13th, and the final word count was about 91,500 words, give or take a few.

What does this have to do with inspiration, you ask? Well, it so happened that, the week before, I came across a video clip on Youtube, all 1:14 minutes of it. Just a simple excerpt from an historical TV series with one of my favorite actors. That was all I needed to inspire me. All the sudden, I couldn’t stop writing. I wrote more in the space of a week than I had written the whole month before. It was awesome, that’s all I can say about it.

So what happens next? I did a first read-through, did some light editing, then I sent it to a couple of friends for some feedback. While I wait on that, I keep revising, and editing, and revising, and editing- you get the picture. I’ve also started working on the cover: conceptual work, photography, fonts, etc. I actually love the design process, so this is fun work for me. There is also formatting to learn, and that is not always easy.

I was also inspired for something else. A few months back, a friend introduced me to this singer/songwriter, and I fell in love with his ballads. One song in particular would not leave me alone, kept nagging at me, and I realized the beautiful lyrics had the potential for a larger story. Another bit of inspiration, this one 5:26 minutes long, which led to the birth of another project. I am so excited about this one! I haven’t started any actual writing yet, just the recording of ideas, and character sketches, and more ideas. And for research, I will be reading the works of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, and her biography, and anything else I can get my hands on. Her sonnets are so lovely, I can’t wait to start the actual work.

And so this is my word of the day- Inspiration. It’s a cliché, but you truly never know where it will come from. Just embrace it, and let it guide your work, to do what you love.

P.S.- I made the graphic above. A little bit of word art. 😉