One of my favorite questions to be asked as an author is:
"Where did you get the inspiration for your first book."
The answer is:
"Plucked out of thin air while living in my mother's closet." :)
Yes, this answer does require some explanation...
I had never known I was going to be a writer. I hadn't dreamed of it since I was a little girl, and I'd never noticed any impressive writing talents in school. Sure, I'd written stories when required and essays in university but nothing spectacular and nothing to write home about. (Pun intended).
There was one glimmer of creativity when I was 12 years old, and I had to write a script for a favorite character in drama class. I chose Dr. Seuss because I loved his books as a child. (Not a cool middle school choice, nut that's another story:).
I did end up writing a pretty inventive script though, ala Dr. Seuss poetic style. I was super impressed with myself (patted myself on the back) and that was the end of it. No more rhyming stories emerged. This was until my 23 year.
I was 23 years old and had just returned to Canada after spending all my money on a trip to Europe (where I was celebrating finishing my degree.) Yes, to me, celebrating a milestone of responsibility and adulthood meant living it up in Ireland and Greece for 3 months and spending all my money. Can't say I regret that decision at all :)
So there I was, forced to end the festivities and return home. And since I was penniless, where else but to return to my good old mom, who was obliged to offer me shelter. Which she did and was happy to (of course). Though at the time, my mom (being a bit of a gypsy herself), had just moved to Victoria B.C. and was living in a tiny bachelor attic apartment. Yes, it keeps getting better and better.
This was across the country from where I had been living in Ontario but.... no matter!.. I packed up a few months clothes, grabbed some necessities and drove across the country to gratefully receive my roof in Victoria.
Not thinking much at the time about what this journey might be like, and how long I would stay.
So there I was, I had driven 46 hours to show up on my mom's doorstep and now was the question of where exactly would I be sleeping?
Well, as it turned out, my bed was in the closet.
The closet of a bachelor apartment. With my Mom.
A closet that was truly full on Harry Potter style. (In fact, I think Harry Potter's closet was bigger than mine).
There was a slanted roof in there (cause it was in an attic), so you couldn't stand up straight, and there was room for exactly one single futon (don't you love sleeping on thin flat futons on the ground as an adult?) and a tiny book shelf (where I put my clothes and meagre belongings).
And you know what?
It was awesome!! It was surprisingly and totally fun sleeping on the floor in the closet of my mom's bachelor. My mom was sleeping on her bed about 5 feet from my bed and it ended up being like a girls sleepover every night. Giggling and talking till all hours of the morning. Totally unexpected and really delightful.
It was also super inspiring! We started talking about amazing books we'd read and new thought concepts and hopes and dreams. We would lie awake buzzing with energy and excitement and keep bringing up new subjects and topics.
(Now my mom and I have always had deep love but not always the easiest single parent/child relationship. Are they ever completely smooth? So this new blossoming adult connection was so wonderful and had a real momentum.)
It felt like we were building a bubbling pot of creation in that tiny appt and it was only a matter of time before it overflowed. Such as it began the night my mom mentioned she had always wanted to write kids books about animals. I had thought "neat" (for her) and that was it (or so I'd thought).
Until a few nights later, I wondered "Well, maybe I could write something too?" It was an unexpected thought with no precursor of previous talent, but because I was abuzz with creative energy, I decided to get out my computer and tap away at it for a bit. I decided to try a writing process I had heard about called "Automatic writing".
It's where you sit down with pen and paper, (or in my case fingers and keyboard) and start writing all the thoughts that come into your head. No filter, no preparation, just direct writing as fast as your stream of thoughts can flow. For example, if I try it right now, this is what comes up:
"... birds fly bread join people together in harmony thoughts are splendid people triggers feelings hippopotamus."
Yup, these are my direct thoughts at this moment. (Give it a try if you want! It's super fun and I have noticed over the years that it is an amazing tool to get the creative juices flowing. I use this with students in my classes and you should see the poems they spontaneously come up with, when before they'd said "But I have no ideeeeeas." It's like you open a free door of creativity in your mind, and you never know what you might come out:)
So there I was, with tiny budding thoughts of writerdom emerging in me, and I tried this technique. It was fun, so I decided to keep at it for a few nights. Well wouldn't you know, lightning struck on only the second night! I was only a few minutes in when the first sentence of my first story whispered in my mind!
"Julie Jones was an ordinary girl, an ordinary girl from an ordinary world"...
What was this!?? What had just come in?
It was enticing and exciting, and I started to follow this subtle thread of a story I could feel emerging. Who was this girl and what was she doing? Trying to find the rhythm and poem that was sprouting in my mind. Amazingly, in about 2 hours I had the rough version of my first story written!
Now the story wasn't completely polished and ready to go. Not by a long shot. There was so much more to come! Including another 7 stories (so far) and thousands of hours of work.
But it all began
the first blaze of creativity came
while living in my mother's closet :)
By Crystaline Rose
p.s. If you are curious to check out my first book inspiration, it's called
"Julie Jones: One ordinary world, one extraordinary girl."
p.p.s. I did eventually "come out of the closet". I am now living in a slightly bigger room, the size of a queen bed plus dresser. Oh ya! And the ceiling is now a full foot above my head. Moving up in the world. Graduating from a closet to a hobbit hole:)
"Where did you get the inspiration for your first book."
The answer is:
"Plucked out of thin air while living in my mother's closet." :)
Yes, this answer does require some explanation...
I had never known I was going to be a writer. I hadn't dreamed of it since I was a little girl, and I'd never noticed any impressive writing talents in school. Sure, I'd written stories when required and essays in university but nothing spectacular and nothing to write home about. (Pun intended).
There was one glimmer of creativity when I was 12 years old, and I had to write a script for a favorite character in drama class. I chose Dr. Seuss because I loved his books as a child. (Not a cool middle school choice, nut that's another story:).
I did end up writing a pretty inventive script though, ala Dr. Seuss poetic style. I was super impressed with myself (patted myself on the back) and that was the end of it. No more rhyming stories emerged. This was until my 23 year.
I was 23 years old and had just returned to Canada after spending all my money on a trip to Europe (where I was celebrating finishing my degree.) Yes, to me, celebrating a milestone of responsibility and adulthood meant living it up in Ireland and Greece for 3 months and spending all my money. Can't say I regret that decision at all :)
So there I was, forced to end the festivities and return home. And since I was penniless, where else but to return to my good old mom, who was obliged to offer me shelter. Which she did and was happy to (of course). Though at the time, my mom (being a bit of a gypsy herself), had just moved to Victoria B.C. and was living in a tiny bachelor attic apartment. Yes, it keeps getting better and better.
This was across the country from where I had been living in Ontario but.... no matter!.. I packed up a few months clothes, grabbed some necessities and drove across the country to gratefully receive my roof in Victoria.
Not thinking much at the time about what this journey might be like, and how long I would stay.
So there I was, I had driven 46 hours to show up on my mom's doorstep and now was the question of where exactly would I be sleeping?
Well, as it turned out, my bed was in the closet.
The closet of a bachelor apartment. With my Mom.
A closet that was truly full on Harry Potter style. (In fact, I think Harry Potter's closet was bigger than mine).
There was a slanted roof in there (cause it was in an attic), so you couldn't stand up straight, and there was room for exactly one single futon (don't you love sleeping on thin flat futons on the ground as an adult?) and a tiny book shelf (where I put my clothes and meagre belongings).
And you know what?
It was awesome!! It was surprisingly and totally fun sleeping on the floor in the closet of my mom's bachelor. My mom was sleeping on her bed about 5 feet from my bed and it ended up being like a girls sleepover every night. Giggling and talking till all hours of the morning. Totally unexpected and really delightful.
It was also super inspiring! We started talking about amazing books we'd read and new thought concepts and hopes and dreams. We would lie awake buzzing with energy and excitement and keep bringing up new subjects and topics.
(Now my mom and I have always had deep love but not always the easiest single parent/child relationship. Are they ever completely smooth? So this new blossoming adult connection was so wonderful and had a real momentum.)
It felt like we were building a bubbling pot of creation in that tiny appt and it was only a matter of time before it overflowed. Such as it began the night my mom mentioned she had always wanted to write kids books about animals. I had thought "neat" (for her) and that was it (or so I'd thought).
Until a few nights later, I wondered "Well, maybe I could write something too?" It was an unexpected thought with no precursor of previous talent, but because I was abuzz with creative energy, I decided to get out my computer and tap away at it for a bit. I decided to try a writing process I had heard about called "Automatic writing".
It's where you sit down with pen and paper, (or in my case fingers and keyboard) and start writing all the thoughts that come into your head. No filter, no preparation, just direct writing as fast as your stream of thoughts can flow. For example, if I try it right now, this is what comes up:
"... birds fly bread join people together in harmony thoughts are splendid people triggers feelings hippopotamus."
Yup, these are my direct thoughts at this moment. (Give it a try if you want! It's super fun and I have noticed over the years that it is an amazing tool to get the creative juices flowing. I use this with students in my classes and you should see the poems they spontaneously come up with, when before they'd said "But I have no ideeeeeas." It's like you open a free door of creativity in your mind, and you never know what you might come out:)
So there I was, with tiny budding thoughts of writerdom emerging in me, and I tried this technique. It was fun, so I decided to keep at it for a few nights. Well wouldn't you know, lightning struck on only the second night! I was only a few minutes in when the first sentence of my first story whispered in my mind!
"Julie Jones was an ordinary girl, an ordinary girl from an ordinary world"...
What was this!?? What had just come in?
It was enticing and exciting, and I started to follow this subtle thread of a story I could feel emerging. Who was this girl and what was she doing? Trying to find the rhythm and poem that was sprouting in my mind. Amazingly, in about 2 hours I had the rough version of my first story written!
Now the story wasn't completely polished and ready to go. Not by a long shot. There was so much more to come! Including another 7 stories (so far) and thousands of hours of work.
But it all began
the first blaze of creativity came
while living in my mother's closet :)
By Crystaline Rose
p.s. If you are curious to check out my first book inspiration, it's called
"Julie Jones: One ordinary world, one extraordinary girl."
p.p.s. I did eventually "come out of the closet". I am now living in a slightly bigger room, the size of a queen bed plus dresser. Oh ya! And the ceiling is now a full foot above my head. Moving up in the world. Graduating from a closet to a hobbit hole:)
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