One of my favorite things to do when writing is look for photos that inspire me. A name, a place, a flower, whatever sparks the muse or mood I guess. Every once in a while I find a photo I love and I have to find out more about it. My current book has a character from Missouri, it is where my mother grew up and I have always wanted to visit. Thanks to the amazing internet I can visit their. The left is a photo and below are of Rock port, Missouri..I loved the fact that it was black and white and also was charming. The classic buildings are adorable. I decided my girl needed to grow up here. My research has been so much fun. All of my stories are set in Portland, Oregon where I grew up. So I find
the city and all its buildings amazing. Portland is great in that it
restores the old and meshes it with the new buildings. In some areas it
looks as if you stepped back in time, just like Rock Port below. England
is also a place I have always wanted to visit. Wikipedia is one of my
favorite sites on the internet and I love that I can find small towns
and villages there.
The next set of photos are of Overton, Hampshire, England. Where my girls dad grew up. I chose these towns based on the photos. It is beautiful how a town or a moment can be captured behind the lens. I hope I am able to capture that in my stories as well.
There are so many times during this writing process when I am just overwhelmed there are so many books out there to read. So many versions of what to do, how to write etc. I have found this is my way. Research, visuals, and sometimes going in person to a location to see it, feel it, smell surroundings etc.
The above photos are of the Pearl district it is one of my favorite places in Portland, Oregon. It is fascinating to me that a warehouse district is now an upscale shopping an restaurant district, it also boasts loft living at its finest! Below is my current building. I found a photo of this. Just its corner. The first shot of the brick building was all I found on the internet. I only had a street number. So I went in search of this actual building in the Pearl. It is better in person then online and the buildings around it are too. Below are some of the photos.
Around this area is also my other place to be when not writing Powell's city of books. It is one of the things our city is famous for and it lives up to its name.
Below are quotes I love, they describe writing in its essence..
Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia. ~E.L. Doctorow
A word is not the same with one writer as with another. One tears it from his guts. The other pulls it out of his overcoat pocket. ~Charles Peguy
And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt. ~Sylvia Plath
So I am happy to say my writers block is gone hallelujah!! As a reader I started reading my story as a it has been great, except for a few parts... (well stuff I forgot to add, my poor readers glad I caught it!) Documented above is my research has lately on my current book, and adding to finished book...
~Life is a work in progress as writing is...Until next time readers, and hopeful writers. Jess =)
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