Monday, February 28, 2011

MUSINGS TO INSPIRE US!


Don't you enjoy when someone can inspire you with only a few words? I've permission to reprint a post by my good friend Geri Foster from the "4 Writers, For Readers" blog. Geri is the most energetic and organized person ever! And creative? As a writer she comes up with complex plots that amaze everyone and then she peoples the stories with strong, believable characters. Today, she's sharing some magic with us, sprinkling a little fairy dust on us so to speak. Here's her post:

                    WITHIN US

Those who know me know I love quotes. I have them everywhere. My house, my car, my desk, my office... You give me an empty space and I’ll nail up a quote.


I particularly like to read Ralph Waldo Emerson. One of my favorites is: “What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us. And when we bring what is within us out into the world, miracles happen.”


Yeah, that’s on my desk!


As a writer I think Emerson is talking to the creative spark inside us that creates every word we put on paper. Writers are such magical creatures we don’t even know our own powers. Writers pull more stuff out of the ‘blue’ than any other profession. We put together other worlds, people, towns, tragedies and love stronger than anything else on earth. The amazing thing is, people reading our books believe they are real. We transport the reader into another world.



And we do it without acknowledging where it all comes from. All of us have sat in the dark and typed away on our computers; creating God only knows what, until it’s done. There are times I have no idea where I’m going with a story, but something within me does. Something guides me to the end of that raw chapter, and often ignites an idea for the next chapter.

To some, it’s simply their muse. It shows up and words get written on the page. Ideas materialize out of nowhere. All is well, and the muse gets all the credit, for we are mere mortals. Nothing of genius comes from us.


It does according to Emerson. It’s all within us right now and has been since the very beginning. There is more within us than we can ever imagine. The stories are unlimited and they get better and better as we go along. We overcome great adversity, we learn things we never knew. We push to the absolute limits of our imagination to come up with a plot others will believe.


We’re writers, so we’re mystical.

I leave you with this quote by Orison Sweet Marden: “There are powers inside of you, which, if you could discover and use, would make of you anything you ever dreamed or imagined you’d become.”

Write On!

Geri Foster




If you were one of the entrants in the Wild Roses Valentine Blog Tour each Wednesday of February and are dying to learn who won, here are the winners.

Rebecca B. won Week Four's gift certificates.

Maria Y. won the Grand Prize of gift certificates plus a Bath and Body Works set.

Congratulations to the winners! Please keep reading!

5 comments:

Ruby Johnson said...

Hi Geri:
Well said. Sometimes I'm amazed at the joy of just putting words together in a cohesive way.

Bailey Stewart said...

This is a wonderful blog Geri!! Thanks for reprinting it Caroline, I missed it the first time.

Joyce Henderson said...

Lovely, and so true. I consider myself blessed that all these people run around in my gray matter and pop out with stories about themselves that I love to flesh out and put in print for others to meet.

That's the gift I think most writers have, and we are a unique breed in that way. Do I oftentimes write myself into a corner, well, yeah. But "somebody" eventually "speaks" to me, and I think, the scene was right there, why did it take me so long to see it? Thank you, God. :)

Anonymous said...

How delighfully refreshing. Wonderful post! THANK YOU BOTH!
Joy

Karen Michelle Nutt said...

Lovely Post!! Thanks for sharing it with us.

I do love quotes, too. :)