Writing Stories on a Treadmill

Inspiration is everywhere, even at the gym

One of the most popular topics here on Medium or on any writer-centric social media platform is “How do I find inspiration?” I’ve lost track of the replies I’ve written on the subject, or how many times I’ve been asked this during lectures to up-and-coming writers. I’m never dismissive in answering the question because it comes up so often that there must be some systemic failure on the part of English composition teachers, editors, mentors, and other successful writers to whom the novice scribe looks for advice. Those of us who write for a living — full-time or freelance — have gotten so used to the pat answer that I think we forget how frustrating an answer that can be to a new writer.

The simplest answer — which rarely satisfies the questioner — is “Inspiration is all around us; write what you see.” “Easy for you to say,” they respond, “but to me, finding something to write about every day is really hard. How do you do manage to do it?” Putting myself in the shoes of the beginning writer, I tell them about the young me, 55 years ago, at the time when I was just starting out as a writer.

When I take that long look back, I recall my writing mentor — my mother — showing me, rather than telling me, what was all around me that could serve as inspiration for a short story or even just a journal entry. She was a fine writer in her own right, and as the daughter of a novelist and movie screenwriter, she had the genes to pass along.

Related posts:

They were about 12 hours apart. When he said good morning, she said goodnight. It was a miracle that they caught each other awake. It meant that they strayed beyond conventional society’s sleeping…