Inspiration…

I’ve been thinking a lot about inspiration lately, which is odd because right at this moment I possess zero of the slippery little bugger. I researched the definition of inspiration and thought it was perfect: “the process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, especially to do something creative.”

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I’ve joked on Facebook about this, admitting that lately Inspiration has taken a long sabbatical and threatened never to return. Not to get all maudlin, but I wonder if the lack of inspiration or feeling is a mild form of depression. I don’t necessarily feel depressed because I’m not sure I have any strong feelings about anything at the moment. I mentioned that I should perhaps write a story called, Inspiration Takes a Vacation. I thought it could be the lesbian version of Death Takes a Holiday…with a twist of course.

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The story might go something like this: Inspiration takes a human form and falls in love with a writer. She doesn’t want to go back and fulfill her role, but if she doesn’t the writer she loves will never create another story. Not only does this affect the writer, but by taking all inspiration away from the world, other writers, painters, photographers, sculptors, musicians, and thespians stop creating or create without passion. Then something truly awful happens, the world begins to not care about anything and racism, homophobia, sexism, etc. runs rampant without those inspired to fight against these awful things. Inspiration must return or else the world is doomed. Now that is truly depressing…so how in the world can that story generate a happy ending?

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Most people know that many of my books evolve from jokes or dreams. Contrary to popular belief, I don’t make fun of everything. Even when something starts as a joke, I’ve managed to sneak in a few messages that I believe are important to impart to the world. Sometimes those messages are obvious, like in Unconventional Lovers. The Termination or Locked Inside. Sometimes the messages are more subtle, like in Out of This World, The Dream Catcher or Captivated. Two books that have yet to come out, The Panty Thief and Pleasure Workers have serious messages woven into the romance and story, along with my trademark quirkiness and humor. So what’s the point?

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The point is, that as an artist, even if a story starts as a joke, I have to be inspired by some element in the plot to make it worthwhile to finish. Ironically, I am a tiny bit inspired by this idea of writing a story about Inspiration taking a vacation because the thing I continue to be worried about in the good old USA is lethargy…an acceptance of what is happening, versus an inspiration to change what is wrong in the world right now. Want to know the antonyms to inspire? Here’s what I found: bore, calm, deaden, depress, discourage, dissuade, halt, leave alone, lull, quiet, stop, dishearten, dull, innervate, lose. Does this sound like something we all should be doing while we slowly, step by step, allow the haters to continue their path of destruction? I cannot allow myself to give in to that lethargy. Because…what we permit, we promote and I sure as hell cannot permit Inspiration to stay on that long holiday.

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Maybe my stories or blogs are not all that inspiring, but if I’ve reached one person, that’s enough for me. It’s always been enough for me. I can tell you there is one person that inspires me more than any other and that is my wife. I wrote a tribute to her in my latest book, Artist Free Zone. There is a double passion with this novel, not only is it the passion of my love for my wife, but 100% of the proceeds go to two very inspiring charities: It Gets Better and The Trevor Project. Stats from The Trevor Project are alarming. I want to cite just a few.

Suicide is the 2^nd leading cause of death among young people ages 10-24 and LGB youth seriously contemplate suicide at almost three times the rate of heterosexual youth.
LGB youth are almost five times as likely to have attempted suicide compared to heterosexual youth.
Suicide attempts by LGB youth and questioning youth are 4-6 times more likely to result in injury, poisoning, or overdose that requires treatment from a doctor or nurse compared to straight peers.

For more stats, here is the link to The Trevor Project page: The Trevor Project Stats

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It is incredibly important to me that these charities receive as much funding as possible and I sincerely hope you will consider supporting Stone Soup Community Press and our LGBTQIA youth.

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