The Fire in My Belly
What sparks creativity, for me.
I’m a little late in following up on the amazing 🦄 Chris Hedges’ prompt asking we writers what fuels our creativity. The reason being that I had to think about it because I never think about it. I just do my thing. Because it is my thing.
But that’s a piss-poor response so let me gather myself for a moment and attempt to come up with a credible answer.
Okay. Done.
At the risk of sounding like a cop-out, damn near everything inspires me. LIFE inspires me. And the mystifying spark that keeps us going even though we know what our ultimate end will be.
I’m inspired by the courage displayed by my parents, who died within two weeks of one another, from Stage 4 lung cancer. Their sheer gutsiness in the face of a diagnosis that was devoid of hope amazes me to this day.
Music is a huge inspiration for me. All genres. On so many occasions, a song title or lyric has compelled me to create a story around it.
If I’m in a funkified mood, I’ll write something funky and in-your-face. Blues? I’ll write about why I want to drink a bottle of vodka and call it a day. R&B? That’s hot. And, anything by the master, Marvin Gaye, will get me going down a sexier path.
In all truth, when it comes to music, I’m more inspired by the dark stuff than the bubble-gummy popular tripe. Never liked it. Never will. (Still don’t get the “boy bands.”)
Along with music, my love for animals is a huge inspiration for me and I’ve written many stories about their potential to heal our fractured souls. For me, they are angels here on earth. I am thankful every day for our three cats and those who shared our lives in the past and are now in Kitty Heaven.
I mentioned sex. Yes, that definitely gets my creative juices flowing as I have a very vivid imagination and I let it run wild, especially in the early morning hours when I first wake up. Vestiges of sexy dreams stay with me until I blow them away like dandelion floss…making room for even hotter ones.
Chris wasn’t messing around when she issued this challenge because it’s a tough one, guys. How can we narrow down what fires us up? There’s so much. Art. Literature. Film. Pop culture. I draw creative sustenance from all of these.
But, and I’m hoping you don’t think this is copping out, I have to finish by saying that nothing inspires me to bleed out on a page more than life.
Life, and survival. Getting through, when the going seems impossible. Dealing with the lot we’re handed. If we can’t find inspiration in that, we should hang it up.
Thanks for reading. I’m going to pass the baton to my buddies, P.G. Barnett, James Knight, Robin Klammer, Gurpreet Dhariwal, Joe Luca, Kevin Buddaeus, Timothy Key and Karen Madej 💛.
Sherry McGuinn is a slightly-twisted, longtime Chicago-area writer and award-winning screenwriter. Her work has appeared in The Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, and numerous other publications. Sherry’s manager is currently pitching her newest screenplay, a drama with dark, comedic overtones and inspired by a true story.
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Here is 🦄 Chris Hedges’ story, which in turn was inspired by a prompt by Jimmy Doom.
And more from me: