Inspirations

“Inspiration is one thing and you can’t control it, but hard work is what keeps the ship moving. Good luck means, work hard. Keep up the good work.” ~ Kevin Eubanks

“Just don’t give up trying to do what you really want to do. Where there is love and inspiration, I don’t think you can go wrong.” ~ Ella Fitzgerald

Inspiration comes to me from the most unexpected places at times. This must happen to other writers and creative people as well but when it happens to me, I am often surprised.

This week I got inspiration for my second novel, Time’s Echo from a memoir by Kelley and Thomas French titled, Juniper: The girl who was born too soon, which on the surface is totally unrelated to my novel. It’s a raw emotional roller coaster ride chronicling Kelley and Thomas lives together beginning when they first met, then when they got together years later, their struggles to not only have a child, but to keep her alive after being born at twenty-three weeks and six days gestation.

The thing that I always look for in a book is, do the people or characters learn from the circumstances in which they find themselves. Kelley and Thomas openly share their mistakes, fears, hopes, and eventual lessons as the doctors and nurses struggle to keep Juniper alive. It’s a book I highly recommend.

As I read the book I said to myself, “How were they brave enough to write so openly about what they went through?” Perhaps it’s because they are both journalists and know that the best stories touch our hearts. In any case I was hooked on the book partly because I’m not willing, yet, to be that vulnerable about my personal life. And yet, their account sparked my thinking about taking the characters in Time’s Echo into new directions. Those ideas are still percolating on the back burner of my mind, but I’m newly excited about all the new directions my story can go.

Vulnerability and writing the flaws of my characters was something I struggled with when I was writing The Space Between Time. One of the segments I had the most trouble with was this last section of chapter one, when Jenna’s mother dies. I tried to express the feeling that the floor has dropped out from underneath her, while at the same time showing how having her loved ones gathered together was such a comfort to her.

In this audio segment, Jenna has arranged for emergency leave from work and drives four hours from Portland to Roseburg in southern Oregon where her mother is in the hospital. Her mother’s friends are waiting for her.

I hope have a fantastic weekend and enjoy this last section of chapter one.

Lucinda Sage-Midgorden © 2018

Lucinda is the author of The Space Between Time, an award finalist in the “Fiction: Fantasy” category of the 2017 Best Book Awards. It’s a historical, time-travel, magical realism, women’s novel, and is available in all ebook formats at Smashwords, and print-on-demand at Amazon and other fine book sellers. To join her email list, click here. She will never sell the names on her list.