Motivation, Inspiration, and Good Ideas

I haven't blogged in ages.  I'm really bad at this, as it turns out.  Perhaps it's because my life has become increasingly mundane since I started the blog, and I always assumed a blog was made up of only exciting/funny/interesting/ridiculous stories.  Well, I don't have one of those today, but what I do have is an intense desire TO WRITE.

I miss writing.  When I was in college, there was always a short story I needed to bang out or a long literary theory essay I had procrastinated (I never enjoyed writing these essays, but I did enjoy the feeling of accomplishment I got when I finished one).  While in school, I even started what I had intended to be my first novel.  I started writing it while I was bored in some history class and felt inspired.  It was "chick-lit" to the extreme and I enjoyed coming home to my apartment and reading it to my roommate who always wanted more.  Then, one sad day, my hard drive crashed and it was gone.  I have considered rewriting the same story, but it was based off of a personal experience and so much time has passed that I don't feel any connection to the story anymore.  Since then, I haven't written anything for fun or for myself, except this blog.

I find blogging challenging the same way I find journaling challenging.  I'm just not interested in myself enough to write about myself consistently.  Maybe this will change when something exciting happens, like starting a family or adopting a cat behind my husband's back, but until then... yawn.

So, why the sudden urge to start writing again?  The answer is simple... Harry Potter.  Or more specifically, JK Rowling.

 I just got back from visiting my family in Colorado. My sister was in from Israel with her husband and my baby niece who I was meeting for the first time.  For the record, her name is Malka, she's delicious, and I'm in love with her.  My sister and her husband are strict about television around the baby.  They don't watch TV in their home, and they preferred that while we were watching the baby, we avoid having the television on.  So, while I fed Malka a bottle or rocked her to sleep in my arms, I would listen to Harry Potter audiobooks. 

I LOVE Harry Potter (seriously, who doesn't?).  I never, EVER, get sick of those books and just thinking about them makes me all weepy.  How amazing is a story if it evokes that kind of emotion from a reader?  Pretty...Freaking...Amazing. 

So, after listening to the audiobooks I ended up googling interviews with JK Rowling.  Her story is truly incredible and she's a fascinating woman.  I love the way she talks about Harry Potter and the world she created.  She seems to really enjoy discussing the books with her fans and we all appreciate that.  I was really moved by her dedication to her work and how much she loves writing in general.  Listening to her speak about writing made me want to write! 

Rowling says the idea of Harry Potter just came to her fully formed one day.  A flood of ideas just rushed into her head and she scrambled for a pen.  This, I am truly jealous of.  It's all about a good idea, isn't it?  When I was writing short stories in school, I had to come up with an idea.  I was doing this for a grade and I needed something good enough for 20 or so pages of interesting (see: not terrible) reading which would be critiqued by my professor and classmates.  Looking back, I don't remember this as being particularly hard.  Since it was a requirement, it was always in the back of my head.  Ideas for short stories would pop up and I would write them down so I wouldn't forget.  Some of those ideas were fleshed out in my stories and some fell to the wayside.  I should probably note that most of the ideas weren't very good and so the writing wasn't fantastic either.

Now, 5 years after graduating, I am itching to write again... but what about?  I have no ideas!  For me, coming up with a good story idea is much harder than writing it.  And what about an original idea!?  Does that even exist anymore?

My favorite writing teacher used to start class with free-writing.  Just sit and write without stopping for a few minutes.  A writer's warm-up.  Consider this blog entry a warm-up.  Getting my feet wet after a long hiatus.  It's rambling and a bit "stream of conciousness," but at least I'm writing... and it feels good.