TRAVELING FOR INSPIRATION PART TWO

            This article piggybacks on my article, earlier this year on a trip to San Francisco. This time it was a trip to Disney, the happiest place on earth!

I’ve discussed inspiration a total of 11 times here at Fred Central, and to me, there’s something about this subject that never gets old. It’s important for you, as a creator to always have this tool in your box.

INTRO

It’s not just COVID that restricts travel for my family. It’s time and budget. Given that, we don’t get out all that much. When we do, it tends to have an impact.

            Back in the day, traveling meant something different. My job, the Air Force, gave me golden opportunities in the time before continual deployments. When we traveled, it was more or less permanent from one place to another. That’s why we lived in places like Spain and Turkey. When not overseas, we were able to live for several year time spans in different states. However, while overseas, when we took a “weekend trip,” it had an entirely different meaning.

            For the majority of those times, I wasn’t a writer or an author. That doesn’t mean I wasn’t able to catalog a vast “wyberry” of memories and photos from which I could draw inspiration. My memory is just fine.

            Nowadays, travel is not the same. Back then, a short jog almost always ended up in someplace interesting. Here and now, it usually means a long trip of one, two, or three days with hotels to get to someplace different. Plus, with COVID in the mix, we have to be more careful. Even being fully vaxxed and wearing a mask, we have to do our best to avoid crowds when we can. As our recent trip to Disney can attest, that was close to impossible.

WHAT CAN TRAVEL DO FOR YOU?

            It all depends on your level of inspiration.

            I’ve talked about inspiration multiple times here at Fred Central. What it boils down to is what your imagination threshold is and how you exploit it. If writing is something you have to do and it’s a compulsion, you should be brim full of stories waiting to get out. Everything inspires you. You have way more ideas filling your head than you can write down in a lifetime.

            Does that mean you’ll try and use all of them?

            Not likely.

            Does that mean you’ll use most of them?

            Not likely either.

            What you’ll do is cherry pick some of the best. When it comes down to actual practice, your adventure, wherever it takes you, will end up someplace that’ll probably surprise you. Even going to Disney, a place that I literally know like the back of my hand, despite an always changing landscape, always gives me a new spark.

            Then, you, like me, will end up with a head full of ideas. This trip to wherever is a little more inspiration for something new and different that won’t hurt to add to your extensive library.

            If everything you have in your head is all imagined, getting out and traveling is a great way to see something for yourself. Nothing beats reality instead of books or viewing it on the net. It breaks the cycle of myopic thinking.

            Now, what about those of you just dabbling, where writing isn’t a passion yet, or may never be?

            For you, inspiration is a mandatory requirement for you to write.

            Travel is an excellent way to spur your imagination.

            Maybe it’s time to have a convenient excuse to take the family or yourself out of the house and go to that place you were thinking of seeing for real, instead of just on Memorex. You may be surprised what it’s like in real life.

            A picture may be worth a thousand words, but seeing it for real is worth a million words.

SUMMARY

            There are many reasons to travel. For writers, it can be for research or inspiration.

            The key is not to think of it as a mandatory thing for legitimacy for your craft. That’s bull. Get that right out of your head. There’s no law or unspoken rule that says your writing isn’t legitimate unless you travel to the places you use in your books!

            The purpose of travel is to get away from home if you can afford it!

            Then again I have to think back to that old song by the 60’s band The Seeds. It’s called Travel With Your Mind. You can do that by staying at home or going there.

            Never forget that!

            There are some of us that will never be able to afford to travel. Some of us can barely afford to travel to the store, let alone across town. Therefore, the wyberry or TV is our only resource. Use it the best you can. There’s no fault and no shame in doing so.

            Second, while you’re there, whether for real or in your head, as a writer, it can be a place of great inspiration or research for something you are currently or may write in the future. A positive outlook and the desire to tell a good story is all you need. Use it wisely.

            Happy writing!