INSPIRATION -- How Do You Keep It?

USA Today featured author Lindi Peterson lives in north Georgia, in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, with her husband and a lively array of cats, dogs and birds. She loves sharing life with her family and friends. Her passion for reading led her to writing, and then God spoke words of love into her heart and her life forever. Visit her at: lindipeterson.com thefaithgirls.com Twitter @lindipeterson

“Where do you get your ideas from?”

As writers, we hear that question a lot. I know I have, and almost every author friend I know has been asked that question.

Well?

Where?

Every author has a different answer. For me, it can be anything from a television commercial to a sentence said in an everyday conversation. And sure, ideas are necessary for novel writing. We have to start the story from somewhere and something has inspired that amazing first sentence. That first paragraph. That first chapter that hints at some sort of conflict.

I want to share something today that has helped me take my ideas and keep them at the front of my mind while I’m writing.

Music.

I know authors who listen to music while they write and I know authors who have to have total silence. How about those who love to write surrounded by white noise and conversation buzz at the coffee house?

What music does for me is keep me grounded in that one vein of story that I need to be writing in every scene throughout the book. I usually have one song that I can say best describes my book. One song that has the ability to sum up my 70 thousand word novel.

My second novel, Summer’s Song, was inspired by this David Crowder Band tune, I’m Trying to Make You Sing. The words to this song hung on my bulletin board FOREVER as I wrote this novel. Every time I felt stuck, I’d look at the words and remember the feel, the vibe, the inspiration behind what I was writing. (Only later, after the novel was in print, did I have Mr. Crowder himself sign the paper!)

I love how songwriters can tell a story. How many times have you been moved to tears while listening to a song? How many times have you related to what the songwriter wrote and felt connected to the words?

My recent release, Rich In Love, had a fun, up-beat song as my go-to inspiration song. 

Sparks Fly, by Taylor Swift, drove the fun atmosphere I centered my book around. The girl and the guy in the song were complete opposites, like my hero and heroine.

For the most part, I don’t listen to music while I write. I have on occasion, but usually my fingers pounding the keyboard is the only sound heard while I’m writing. But, while working on the second book in my series, I started a Christmas book during Christmas and wasn’t finished when the holidays were over. I had a Christmas album on my computer along with the Christy Nockels album, Into the Glorious, that my inspiration song, For Your Splendor, was on. I put them together on a playlist and listened to that while I wrote the book.

I also discovered I liked listening to Christmas tunes in March.

Inspiration comes from everywhere. How do you keep it while writing?