Guest Post: Inspiration for Fly Again by Tracy Sherwood
As a writer, you never know from where your inspiration will arrive. For instance, in my earlier days of becoming a published writer, I had the opportunity to submit a personal essay to A Cup of Comfort for Women. I was excited by the prospect of having my work included in this popular book series. Here was the chance for me to jump from basement presses to international distribution. All I needed was the right story about the “transitions in a woman’s life” to impress the editors. Fingers hovering over the keyboard, I waited at the computer. But the words failed to materialize on the screen in front of me.
The submission deadline was three days away. I checked my watch. I had fifteen minutes to pick up my daughter, Hannah, from kindergarten. I looked helplessly and pleadingly at the blank monitor. It stared back at me, cold and taunting as if to say, “You will never leave the basement. Bhahahah!”
I ran out the door.
***
On the way home from the elementary school, I stopped at Blockbuster with Hannah to drop off video rentals (yes, it was that long ago). The cement sky was an ominous sign of encroaching upstate New York winter. The air smelled of rotting leaves from now-bereft branches that appeared like so many empty arms.
Halloween was just around the corner, and the next stop was to pick out a trick-and-treating costume for Hannah. My gloomy mood was interrupted by loud squawking. Hannah’s small hand excitedly pointed overhead at the gaggle of geese in their V formation fleeing south before the first snow. Hannah tugged on my arm. “Are the mommy birds sad when their babies leave the nest?”
Her innocent question carried the icy jolt of reality. She was only five and my other daughter eight years old. I had not before considered the day when they would leave home. Time had been immediate in terms of deadlines, appointments and school commitments. Abruptly, I was gaping into a future without shopping for Halloween kids’ costumes. The late autumn wind stung my eyes as I contemplated my own lonely nest. Hannah’s sweet face continued to implore me.
I smiled though my throat swelled with a silent sob. “Let’s go pick out your costume.”
Meanwhile, my writer’s voice encouragingly whispered inside me, “You’ve got your story.” Suddenly, an orange candy-corn sunray brightened the dismal surroundings.
That night, I wrote my story, “Fly Away,” that appears in A Cup of Comfort for Women. It led to local newspaper interviews, book signings and a guest spot on the PBS television station.
I was putting the finishing touches to my makeup before my first appearance at Barnes and Noble Bookstore, and still had no idea how to begin my presentation. After days, I was no closer to a charming witticism to warm the crowd. Hannah appeared in the bathroom to watch me add a coat of mascara to my lashes. Her gaze was filled with that little-girl admiration reserved for their mothers. I shrugged off my anxiety for the evening ahead. What did it matter if I made a fool of myself in front of an audience? I had the respect of my children at home.
“You know why I am on TV and in newspapers? And why I’m getting to speak at a book signing?” I felt a wave of pride and gratitude. “It’s because of your question about the baby birds leaving their mommy’s nest. What do you think of that?”
Hannah shrugged, unimpressed. “Really, I just wanted to know the answer.”
I didn’t have the answer. But I had the opening for my book talk. You see? A writer never knows from where her inspiration will come. But she is glad when she recognizes it.
The End
Title: Death Grip
Author: Tracy Sherwood…
About the Author
Tracy is a Pushcart Award nominated writer whose work has appeared in literary magazines and book anthologies. She is also a prize-winning screenwriter.
What a lovely and terrifying story, lol. I’m familiar with the empty screen of the computer snarling nasty things at me :)) But she’s right, inspiration will come when you stop searching. It’s a cruel thing.
Ramona recently posted…Creative Writing Programs: Yay or Nay?
It is very true that when you’re too focused and too stressed, the creative mind is stifled.