Tag Archives: imagination

Grand Week

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POST CARDS FROM THE MUSE

Grand Week

By Nandy Ekle

This week has been a very special week for us. For the first time, we have had all of our grandchildren with us. And let me tell you, it has been a great Grand Week. Our oldest is six years old and the youngest is twelve months. And watching them all laugh and play, sing and dance has been an extremely amazing event for us.

One of the wonders of this week, other than the obvious of just having them close to us and enjoying their interactions with each other has been their games. They all have super busy imaginations and they came up with some of the most creative ideas I’ve ever heard. The girls put together a singing group and practiced a specific song until they were comfortable enough to sing it in public and even have a grand finale ending. The boys played cars and car tracks. They all colored pictures and drew on paper. And Nana read stories.

So what does this have to do with inspiration for writing (other than gloating that I got to keep the grands this week)? Listening to the stories the kids made up sparked my own imagination. Each game they played, each song they sang, each story they told stuck in my own head and took a corner to mature in. And, of course, they will get all credit for the ideas they gave their nana.

If your imagination feels like it’s running dry, spend a few days listening to children play together. The well of ideas will suddenly grow too deep to keep up with it.

Congratulations. You have just received a post card from the muse.

Visiting Old Friends

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POST CARDS FROM THE MUSE

Visiting Old Friends

We had some really good times together. We laughed, we cried, we made mistakes and cured mistakes together. I listened when they cried and complained and they led me in directions I wasn’t sure I could go. I haven’t seen some of these friends in a while and getting back to them has been a wonderful experience.

These terrific friends of mine are the characters in my stories. I have spent a great deal of time with some of them, a little less time with some others, but every one of them has a huge spot in my imagination. Even after I write “The End” on a story, the characters live on in my head.

I like to visit these friends when I feel like I’m in a rut. Re-reading something I wrote a while back is like reading something brand new written by someone else. The theme is easier to see, as well as what works and what doesn’t. And the voices of the characters are more distinct.

Go back and read some of your earlier work and see what you learn from the characters and their stories. You will find a new way to relive an adventure with old friends.

Congratulations. You have just received a post card from the muse.

Nandy Ekle

My Favorite Toy

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POST CARDS FROM THE MUSE

My Favorite Toy

The sun seemed to make an audible pop as the light poked through my bedroom window. My four-year-old eyes sprang open and the world was brand new. Grabbing my doll, I looked into her plastic face and watched it transform to real flesh as her eyelids blinked at me.

As an eight-year-old girl I hopped on my bike and rode around the neighborhood with the feeling that I was the lead rider in a huge bicycle race. The wind blew my hair behind me and the sun browned my skin.

At the age of ten I played on my keyboard in front of the enormous audience that had come to my bedroom to listen to my rendition of the songs in my music book.

And every night when the sun went down, I took my bath and then stood in front of the mirror arranging my towel into every style of formal gown I could invent.

The best toy I ever owned never had a storage box and could never be stashed in a corner because there was nothing that could ever contain it all at once. And of course I’m talking about my imagination.

Let your imagination out to play and your stories will write themselves. Allow the magic to move your pen across the paper and you’ll find your writing zone in no time. And I know from experience that you will be as surprised with your characters and story as your readers.

Congratulations. You have just received a post card from the muse.

Nandy Ekle

Killing Me Softly

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POST CARDS FROM THE MUSE

Killing Me Softly

It’s that song!  You know the one I’m talking about.  When you hear it on the radio it commands your attention and pulls you in, ears first, then your head, followed by your soul.  It’s the words, the tune, the voice, the chords.  There’s just something about that song.

Music is a wonderful place to find a story. It’s not always obvious, in fact sometimes you have to dig for it.  But you know it’s there.  It’s hiding between the words and the notes.

Over and over you listen to the piece and over and over you fall into the score searching for the real story behind the lyrics. A single phrase fogs your imagination further and the mystery grows deeper.

Listen closely to your music and piece together the story.

Congratulations! You have just received a post card from the muse.

Nandy Ekle