Finding Inspiration

In the dictionary, inspiration means: stimulation of the mind or emotions to a high level of feeling or activity.
This, I think, is one of the miracles/curses of writing.  Where do you get inspiration?  Does it just come naturally to a writer so that they can write perfection?  Umm... right.  Does it come to you in dreams?(hey, it worked for Stephanie Meyers. We can only hope to have her type of success!) Or maybe, just maybe, it comes to you looking out a window seeing the gardener bend over, showing off his horrible fashion sense (I won't mention the shiny body part you see from this) as he picks up the rake he dropped to scratch his very big, jolly belly... Christmas is coming ya know..

I actually get my inspiration in two places for the most part. The first place is the shower. Yeah, I know, it's weird... But actually, a LOT of writers get their ideas from the shower. It clears the airs (so to speak) and allows you to think, to day dream. A Fire Within was born in the shower.  It's funny because one of my twin daughters had walked into the bathroom while I was in the shower.  Of course, my five year old daughter follows right behind  to ask what she is doing.
 "I'm looking for my hair brush, duh!"
My 5 yr old... "What's it look like?"
Peggy : "Like this~ seeeee?"
Now, as I am hearing the conversation, remember that I am in the shower. We have a light brown curtain that has a 1ft line of clear plastic on top. It's foggy (yes, I like them super hot lol) so all I can see in the curtain is Peggy's shadow, with said hairbrush, bringing it up & down like the psycho movie. (No, she wasn't hitting her little sister I promise!) Of course, I get tickled, then they get tickled and leave me to finish my shower in relative peace. (with 3 girls, that is an oxy-moron) Thinking of the pyscho made my brain switch to serial killers which sent me down another path, etc.. lol. You see where I am going with this. Showers are great entertainment and inspiring~ : )


 My second way of inspiration is horseback riding.  My husband and I are redoing our fence line so we won't be able to have horses on our property until next spring. This is fine; I ride over at my mother's house since they have 6... one of which her & my dad just gave me (& the kids lol).  It gives me a sense of peace, of complete happiness to go ride for a few hours.  We trail ride often or might just take off down the off roads that she lives on.  Honestly, it doesn't matter, as long as I am on the back of a horse I am pretty much happy. This is how I worked out Crossing Steele, the sequel to A Fire Within. Over the summer, I have thrown away sheet after sheet of nothing.. nada.... horse poo. I left the idea of a sequel alone for about a week and went riding. I needed to clear my head completely because all I could think of was "Everybody is gonna HATE the book".  It's the first book-everybody thinks that. So I went riding and I see all these beautiful trees, the grass that is so tall, it brushes your boots as you ride through it. (BTW, the man doesn't know we went through his field, so umm.... SSHHHH! That's our secret~) And that's when it hit me. The sequel popped in my head with such clarity that I felt I was good to go.
So, those are my inspirations to write.  What are yours? What gives you the urge to write stories or poetry? What gets you up in the mornings- ready for whatever the day brings? Come on, I shared mine... lol. Share yours~