Wednesday 6 April 2016

Writing Inspiration from a Photo #1

Occasionally I draw writing inspiration from photos. I don't take a whole lot of pictures, and am thinking I should take more, because some images end up being precious, and yes, inspire some writing - which is always a good thing. As we all know, when it comes to writing, the well sometimes seems strangely dry. Which is where I'm at these days, so I turned to my photos to see if anything will ignite some creative thought, or a blog post. And wouldn't you know...

This is my five-year-old nephew, Jakobi. He was playing with some trucks on our living room floor. Lately it seems he's fascinated with having his trucks hit ice and end up in the ditch. Then the tow truck has to come to the rescue. Does this type of play come from something he's watched or just the fact that he lives in Manitoba, where winters make for some treacherous driving conditions. Sometimes I tell him, "I'm tired of watching all those accidents. You need to teach those drivers how to be more careful." 

"But it's icy, Linda," he states matter-of-factly;  as if to say, it doesn't have anything to do with the drivers being careless. I should have known that.

In this photo, Jakobi had just come from playing outside, hence the cute rosy cheeks. He usually wears glasses, but they were fogged up. I love his intent look -- he must be in the process of getting that semi trailer upright. He's facing the living room window, and his face is angled perfectly for the light to fall on just part of his face.

The button he's wearing is something he got in school during I-Love-To-Read month. It reads, 'I'm a brand new reader.' He's been wearing it since I first put it on his suspenders back in February.  I think he loves that silly monkey as much as the slogan, if not more.

Does a picture ever prompt you to write? Or do you have other sources of great writing inspiration? I'd love to hear about it. I've started a 'Writing Inspiration' list. (It really helps to sometimes go to it to get some creative ideas flowing. Like today.) I'd be delighted to be able to add some new ideas to it.



4 comments:

  1. I love using photos for inspiration, and love the rosy cheeks here. When I moved to Florida, and was one of only a few Mennonites in school (which was a new experience for me), some of my new friends exclaimed they knew I was a Mennonite because of my rosy cheeks. (I did wear a little blusher on my cheeks, little did they guess.) :-)

    But this is just lovely. Was he the same child you wrote about with the pencil sharpener? (and photographed??)

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  2. Yes, Melodie, it's the same boy.

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  3. I was led to your website through your comment on Shirley's post today. Like her, my origins are Mennonite. I find inspiration often through photographs. In fact, yesterday's blog post is based strictly on images from my past: http://plainandfancygirl.com/2016/04/06/moments-of-discovery-a-bubble-a-dome-a-mirror/

    I love how you tell Jakobi's story, which extends way beyond the dimensions of the photo. Thank you!

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  4. Welcome, Marian! Thanks for stopping by! I enjoyed your 'images from my past' blog post!

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