inspiration 2

I've signed up for an online class on 'creative writing'. It would be nice to have someone critique my writing. As the instructor of this class said, '....we adore our own writing...' Sometimes I read the pieces I wrote and I feel pleased with myself. To be able to write more than a paragraph is an achievement for me. Who knows if it's even good. It's time to raise the bar, not just to write but to write more inspiring pieces. To inspire I need inspiration.

Who is afraid of a blank page? I am. Steve Chandler said, 'write something, write badly, just write...' He also said, 'write daily'. I am trying. I find reading helps a lot. I have a few books that never leave my side. I'm constantly referring to them, to read what's written in them and to see the pretty pictures, the colors and the quotations. It helps a lot.

Sara Midda's book, 'South of France, a sketchbook' is always by my side. It gives all the quotations ever written about Provence from artists like Van Gogh to travelers like Tobias Smollet. I love her watercolors and reading it helps me get exciting about writing. From 'South of France', I quote,

'January - February 1888 - Monet at chateau de la Pirede in Antibes, paints 36 canvases at this time- writes to Rodin: I'm fencing and wrestling with the sun. And what a sun it is. In order to paint here one would use gold and precious stones.'

Another book I'm in constant touch with is Eric Maisel's 'A writer's Paris.' "We must maintain illusions. We must maintain the illusion that what we create matter and that we are not pointless, discard able energy packets but creatures every bit as valuable as our best sentences seduce us into believing that we are."

It matters to me. To create matters to me. To be inspired to create matters to me. We are creative beings and need to create even though we're the only ones who love our own writing or our own drawings.

I found this guy selling lavender out of his SUV at the Santa Monica farmers' market. I thought it was pretty priceless. The whole place smelt so good, reminds me of the lavender fields in Provence a few years ago. We happened upon a field that was being harvested, as the machine went over the lavender, it emitted a perfume that scented the whole valley. We took the little narrow gauge train from Nice to the haute Provence and from the train we could see lavender growing all over. It was very exciting. Provence is a very inspirational place and every artist knows that from Van Gogh to Matisse.