When Inspiration Knocks

I'm sure most authors would agree that there are times when inspiration doesn't just knock lightly, but pushes the damn door down, insisting that you drop just about everything you're working on to write, write, write. One must heed this call. In my opinion and experience, if the driving force is lost, the story most often is lost with it. Even a detailed set of notes that are later retrieved when there is a spare moment will not suffice, for during the period when the inspiration is fresh and new, bright and driving, the story will come out like lightning from my fingertips.

I was hit with the an inspiration uppercut just the other day. It was Thursday, I believe. I heard a news story on the radio that was so desperate and unbelievable that my mind went wild with the possibilities. The story was about a family whose house was foreclosed, and when they wanted to do something good as a result of their misfortune, they were completely taken advantage of by not one person, not two people, but a slew of greedy, heartless fools who really should have been prosecuted for breaking and entering if nothing else. Yes, I know my description of the story is vague, but I'm keeping the details to myself, as they play an important role in the story I am writing.

This got me thinking about the state of our society. Here we are in the midst of a Presidential election, the economy sucks about as hard as a twenty dollar whore, and people are either being pushed to desperate measures or using their ignorance and the struggling state of their existence as an excuse to run amok. How far can or will it go? How desperate will people become? Or is the current state of our economy just a great excuse for petty crime?

Inspiration hit me hard -- just about gave me a black eye! So as soon as I was finished with a short story re-write I had been working on, I immediately began work on a short story I am calling "Like Ants on a Carcass". I wrote about 1,000 words last night, and just as soon as I sign off on this blog post I will write more. The way it's going, I may finish the first draft in one more sitting. I had intended on finishing a novel I began in the summer tentatively titled "Paint it Black", but I learned a while back that I must heed my muse lest the inspiration die away and all I'm left with is a note, an idea, and nothing more.

Cheers and good writing!