Inspiration

When I was in sixth grade, my best friend handed me a copy of her favorite book: Gone With The Wind.

And I was hooked.

I read through that book like the pages were on fire. I gobbled up every word Margaret Mitchell wrote and cried through the last one hundred pages.

I was never more moved by a book.

I can remember it clearly... me on my twin bed with the white headboard, tissues clenched in my hand, bawling my eyes out as Scarlett and those famous green eyes made mistake after mistake, losing so much and then realizing her love for handsome ole' Rhett Butler.

Oh.

It still makes my stomach clench when I think back to how emotionally involved I was in the characters.

I've read Gone With The Wind every year since then, watched the movie countless times and been inspired by Margaret Mitchell every time I write a single word of my own.

It was because of Gone With The Wind and Margaret Mitchell that I started writing.

As soon as I read those famous last words, I realized that I wanted to invoke emotion in people. I wanted to control a character and make him/her bend to my will.

It also was a way to control the world around me.

Because, honestly, when you're in the sixth grade no one listens to you, no one understands you and no one loves you.

As a writer, I could make my characters say and do everything I couldn't do.

And the rest is history.

I've been writing ever since.

Creating characters, plotting out love, disasters, friendships, motive...

And as I sit watching the movie, again... I feel the itch to write, to create...

You've gotta love the things that inspire us.

What inspires you?