Creativity and inspiration baffle me at times. From where do they come? Can you summon them? Do they have anything to do with the muses? On the train on Friday, I had a fascinating experience with one and another Sunday morning.

Friday’s Journey

Once again, I rode the Amtrak train from Raton, New Mexico to Albuquerque. I spent time checking email, updating the banner for my Facebook Author’s page, and updating the banner for my weekly blog to change to “spring.” Then I started working on my new book.

I’m stumped because of advice I received from Ceylan, one of the editors at Let’s Fix Stories podcast that gave me such valuable advice. She said I had to ground any flashback in the five senses: sound, sight, taste, touch and smell. This book has tons of flashbacks because it’s the story of my incest as a child, and it’s told from the adult point of view. It baffled me how to do this—so as I kept going around and round, I decided it was time to stop!

Creativity Hit

After working on the computer, my eyes hurt and felt dry up and itchy and I was stumped, so I turned to my knitting. I love to knit and have made ten pairs of booties for a project I’m involved with in Panama. Knitting has a rhythmic, meditative quality to it. The train rumbled down the track, my needles softly brushed passed each other. Relaxation hit as I worked.  As I sat and knitted, the answer for the flashbacks came to me immediately. It was like the lights came on! Creativity at its best!

So I have my answer! Now I just need to revise my chapters that have flashbacks.

This Morning, It Happened Again

At 5:00 AM this morning, I woke from my sleep. Immediately I realized I couldn’t do what I had planned to do tomorrow because I had to return my rental car at 5:00 PM. Tomorrow’s a busy day for me: I have a 9:15 AM appointment with my podiatrist to try a custom orthotic he made for me, and hopefully it fits. Then I have a 1:30 PM appointment for another hearing test, this time with the man who might fit me with hearing aids. The receptionist told me to block out one and a half hours for the appointment. In between the two appointments I need to run by Walmart for a couple things and also Merle Norman. I use my time in Albuquerque to stock up on items I can’t get in Panama or would be expensive to ship.

What I planned to do after the hearing aids appointment was to go with my friend, Sheri, up to Tijeras, 18 miles away to the post office and gather our mail and stop it. Then I wanted to go by the house one last time to say good-bye at the graveside of my precious cat, Jesse. After that, we planned to go to our storage unit and return some items I got at the first of month and retrieve more things Lin and I wanted to take back to Panama.

This trip to Tijeras and back and all that activity would go way beyond 5:00 PM!

This wasn’t necessarily something that contributed creatively to my writing, but I felt the inspiration from my God that certainly saved me from a costly mistake.

Finally,

I often have these creative moments, this inspirations. I call them “God Thing.” Often it happens by turning away from my work and doing something else or going to sleep. Yes, sometimes I do my best thinking asleep!

How about you? Have you ever experienced a “God Thing?”

Cover of the Month Time Measured Out!: Navigating Life’s Journey Through Poetry Hey Everyone, I’m excited to tell you that my book has been nominated for the “Cover of the Month” contest on AllAuthor.com. This will help me a lot if I could see some votes coming in, so please remember to vote my book. Vote Now »

Thanks, Larada Horner-Miller

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My Newest Books

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Buy My Audio Books:

This Tumbleweed Landed

Let Me Tell You a Story 

Hair on Fire: A Heartwarming & Humorous Memoir Audiobook

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