THE INSPIRATION FOR WRITING

The first question I am always asked when I share my experiences of writing is, “Where do you find your inspiration from?”. There is a myriad of answers with no one simple answer to the question. As I have turned my hand to numerous different styles of writing, the answer is even more multifaceted.

In the very early days of writing, I published articles in magazines and newspapers and these articles were always based on personal experience. Two examples come to mind. I had to retake both my car as well as motorcycle driving tests again when I came to the U.K. nearly 40 years ago. I decided to take riding lessons again, mainly to familiarise myself with the traffic and road conditions in this country. I wrote a humorous article based on this experience. We had a most entertaining riding instructor who was a larger than life character with a sense of humour to match.

The next source of inspiration came from a conversation I had with a couple in rural Austria and the rituals and traditions of weddings in Austria. I went on to do several articles on weddings in different cultures.

As an academic writer, both of books as well as journal articles, the inspiration often comes from endless research and identifying the gaps in the literature. Another avenue is to combine several themes of the literature in a particular subject in different, and hitherto, unrelated combinations.

Again, by way of an example is from my career as an Executive Coaching and my interest in complexity theory. I developed a fascination for the latter when researching for my first Ph.D. in Corporate Strategy. I continue to explore the connection between these subjects and now share my ideas with aspiring students of coaching.

The inspiration for my book H.A.G.S. with Attitude: A philosophy for ageing, and no doubt the reason why you are reading this blog in the first instance, came from my personal experience associated with transitioning into midlife and beyond.

A metaphor that comes to mind when considering the nature of inspiration in writing is that of pulling a loose thread. Once you start it rapidly unravels. When the seed of an idea takes place, with a bit of watering and nurturing, it grows and grows. The exciting part of it is that you never know where the journey will take you.

My advice for any aspiring writer is to allow yourself to follow your inspiration and see where it leads you. I can guarantee that the destination will be very different from what you anticipate, and you will have an exciting adventure along the way!

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