The Inspire Me Tag

   Hannah White (Ink Blots And Coffee Stains) recently created an EPIC tag called Inspire Me - and tagged me to do it! It looks like a ton of fun, and I'm super excited about it ;).

  - Ze Rules -

1. Copy these rules onto your post

2. Thank the person who tagged you (thank you, Hannah!)

3. Tag five other bloggers (More or less - whatever you want.)

4. Have fun and be honest and answer alll da questions (and feel free to add some of your own!)

1. What is one are some of the most inspiring things to you?  

   Late nights spent watching the stars. Early mornings and seeing the sun rise. A blanket of fog covering a still-sleeping world. Silver mist. Walking in the rain. Quiet forests. 
   Grey clouds. Twilight To Dawn. Train tracks that lead to nowhere. Chasing Fireflies on moon-lit nights, and strange happenings that cannot be explained.
  

2. Where do you look for inspiration? 

   Quite honestly, I don't normally look for inspiration. Sometimes I will (mostly if I'm seriously stuck in a story-rut or I need that little spark that will help me figure out a plot bunny), but most of the time inspiration seems to find me, instead of the other way around. Which can be both a blessing and a hindrance, because inspiration tends to take its sweet time xD (at least I'm never at a loss for plot bunnies!). 

3. When and where does inspiration tend to hit you? 

   Always at the worst times - and normally where I can't write it down xD. Half of the time it's at midnight, when I'm far too tired to grab paper and make a note about it.
   The other half of inspiration normally hits my while browsing through my file of pictures that I save because they look like they could turn into plot bunnies. That thing is a treasure trove of ideas and inspiration (if you haven't started anything like this, you should! It's helped me with tons of stories) 
   But if I sit down with a notebook during the day (especially a rainy day) and don't worry about what I'm writing (or the logic of what I'm writing *cringes*) then inspiration tends to come and I end up with 2k+ words that I didn't see coming. That's always fun!   
 

4. What's the first thing you do when inspiration strikes? 

   Again, the midnight thing. Which means I end up falling asleep in the middle of thinking about the scene I've just had inspiration for xD. 
   BUT that's not interesting in the least, so we'll switch to a daytime scenario. The want to write hits me a lot more often than the inspiration to write, but when real, honest-to-goodness inspiration hits me, I tend to be lazy and just play the inspired scene over and over in my head while I go about my day, and write it down later. Which I actually like better than writing it down immediately, because then I can mess with the scene some before seeing it on paper. 

5. What's the most inspiring book/song/website/etc. you've found? 

   OH WOW - there are a ton of inspirational songs I could mention, and almost as many blogs and books! 
   I absolutely adore music, and I go to it whenever I'm having a tough time getting through a scene. But I few that I've had on repeat lately are: 'Better' by Britt Nicole, 'Time For The Show' by Kerrie Roberts, and I also love 'To The Dreamers' by For King And Country, and 'Lost Girls' by Lindsey Stirling. 
   Books-wise ... well, that's a little harder. But The Hunger Games recently inspired me to try writing in first person more (which turned out to be ... interesting. Very fun, but the story I started on is described as 'creepy' by my sisters XD). 
    As to blogs ... well, I'm limiting myself to five blogs because otherwise I'll list most every blog I read xD. Ink Blots And Coffee Stains, Abbiee, Burning Youth, Taking My Time, and Twilight To Dawn. Go check them out, they're all epic *nodnod*.    

6. What's one piece of advice you would give to people struggling for inspiration? 

   Quit fighting to find inspiration. Inspiration is like a spooked animal half the time - chase it, and it's going to run. Just stand still and wait, and it will normally come to you. 
   Also, you need to stay open to getting inspiration, even if you aren't looking for it. When I'm writing a story, my brain will sometimes unconsciously shut off to sources of inspiration. Mostly this is because I'm afraid too much inspiration will give me too many crazy ideas for where my already-written story could go, and I don't want it to change. AND this is wrong, because what is editing if not change (and also the crazy ideas tend to be better than what I came up with in the first place xD).     
   So that was quite a ramble. But basically - don't go crazy trying to find inspiration, and always be open to inspiration ;).  

I tag ... 

Abbie @ Abbiee 

Hanna @ Taking My Time 

Julia Ryan @ The Barefoot Gal 

Ariel @ Christ's Ambassador (private blog) 

Evangeline @ An Odd Blog

   So yes, that tag was just as fun as I thought it would be, and I had a blast! Many thanks to the lovely Hannah for creating it! (also, I linked to her blog about three times in this post, so that must mean something. Go check her out xD)    

~ Savannah Grace 

   What kinds of things inspire you? What advice would you give to people looking for inspiration?