A picture is worth a thousand words. Or is it worth more? Sometime a picture can be worth ten thousand words or twenty thousand words. It all depends on the picture and your muse. When does a picture inspire you? Why does a picture inspire you?

For me a picture will inspire at the oddest times. And it may be one I have seen many times without anything coming to mind. Like this one. This picture I found while looking for pictures of guys kissing. It is actually a drawing but I liked it. I had looked at it a couple times thinking I could do a story off of it. Nothing had come to mind. My muse was silent.

 I was discussing a cowboy story with a friend. I had started one and was complaining to him that it just wasn’t working for what I wanted. It wasn’t a bad story, just not what I thought I needed. We started off topic about a surfer, I sent him the picture and in the course of commenting back and forth on it…I got an idea. He should write a surfer story. The picture was perfect and I could *see* the story.  He sent back, no, *I* should write one! But I was writing a cowboy story! I took another look at the picture and wham! It was like a hammer hit me over the head. What would happen if a surfer and cowboy met? Holy surfboards-I had a new story!

So why did it happen now? Was it the right picture at the right time? Or was it always there in my head and it just needed the extra nudge? Did my muse just need the right combination of picture and encouragement to inspire me? For me, I think it was a combination of things. First, I had already liked the picture. Second, I tend to doubt myself, so I think I needed the encouragement. Plus I needed to look at the whole thing at a different angle. Changing the way I looked at it brought the idea to life.

My muse gets a big thank you as does my friend who encouraged me! Now, what inspires you? What gets your creative juices flowing?