A Creative Moment

I didn't think I'd be writing another book. I figured I'd stop and just focus on homeschooling, running our little tree business, and tending my new farm (feel free to peek here. Wait, am I allowed to do that?)
But.
GOD has a funny way of...shoving you face first into things. Like how when you're unpacking your kitchen and you're listening to music and all of a sudden, wham! You need to write, like, right now! And you start your furious typing, and you jot down notes on whatever scrap paper is beside you and then you get frustrated because you can't remember what you were thinking about and then you remember again...
For me, I try not to ignore these little moments. These flashes of inspiration that hit me. So I try to feed the fire by increasing my music listening, reading some moving quotes and praying.
I have notebooks of quotes that I love.  Messy, recycled notes that I had to write down and file away because I loved them so much. Powerful words. Words that build me up and soften my heart. Words to make me brave, courageous and fearless. Words to remind me of who I am and Whose I am.

These are some of my favourite that entice me to write. They encourage me into thinking about characters and emotions they are experiencing and plot movement. I hope they move you too. Some of them do not have the author's name because either I couldn't remember, or I had a moment of brilliancy and wrote it myself.

'You have to be brave with your life so that others can be brave with theirs.' (Katherine Center)

'Be soft. Do not let the world make you hard. Do not let the pain make you hate. Do not let the bitterness steal your sweetness. Take pride that even though the rest of the world may disagree, you still believe it to be a beautiful place.' (Iain Thomas)

'Why should you be beaten anymore? Why do you persist in rebellion? Your whole head is injured, your whole heart afflicted. From the sole of your foot to the top of your head, there is no soundness - only wounds and welts and open sores, not cleansed or bandaged or soothed with olive oil.' (Isaiah 1:5-6)

'Quit being the victim.'

'But have you seen inside her?'

'It was just a kiss.'

'...they sing of the days of their glory, they sing of their exploits of old, of maidens and knights, and of fiery fights, and guarding vast caches of gold...' (Jack Prelutsky - The Dragons are Singing Tonight)

'When you write a story, you're telling yourself the story...' (Stephen King)

'The trick is to look like you belong.'

'If you want to find out what's behind these cold eyes, you'll just have to claw your way through this disguise.' (Pink Floyd - The Wall)

'The difference between a lady and a flower girl is not how she behaves, but how she's treated. I shall always be a flower girl to Professor Higgins, because he always treats me as a flower girl, and always will; but I know I can be a lady to you, because you always treat me as a lady, and always will.' (G.B.Shaw - Pygmalion)

'But Lancelot mused a little space; He said, 'She has a lovely face;''  (Lord Tennyson - the Lady of Shalott)

'Why can't I see myself in your eyes?' (the Last Unicorn)

'You are every woman who ever lived before you. But this is your body you move and no one else's. Your heart that beats so loud and so strong. This is your body that bends and dances, nobody else's. This your time that is passing. Your life that is just beginning to go.' (an old Nike ad. I think)

'I'll wait up in the dark, for you to speak to me, I'll open up, release me...' (Pearl Jam - Release)

'What's all amazing that keeps us stargazing and what do we think we might see? Someday we'll find it, the rainbow connection, the lovers, the dreamers and me.' (Kermit the Frog - Rainbow Connection)

I have a zillion more.

I hope these inspired you. I hope they gave your heart a flutter and perhaps some words came to your fingers, itching to be let out.
Would you care to share your favourite quotes? Words that move you, even now as you reread them?

Jenn Kelly is an author who is getting back at the game. She enjoys soy chai lattes and mushroom risotto.  She lives on a farm and has thirty-million ideas for it.  This photo was taken a long time ago because she can't find her cord to upload new photos. She no longer has those awesome slippers. Which is a pity because they were very comfortable.  Her work space is normally messier than this. You can find her at www.jennkelly.com but she hasn't been there in over a year.