Winds and Waves of Inspiration

Are you a writer who hasn’t written a word?

How many waves of inspiration flow thru your mind before you finally pen (or type) your first words as a self-proclaimed writer?
I remember clearly the first few times I felt the stirring within to write. Emotions with no words bubbled inside like boiling water turning to vapor in effort to escape the heat of the moment. Each time I kept the lid on and eventually dismissed the thought. 

As a child, my love for words began with poetry. I tore out poems with my notes written around the edges from Teen Beat magazines and carefully filed them in purple folders. Today they remain packed in a box of childhood memories. But the first time I undoubtedly felt the urge to write was sitting alone by the water’s edge on Mackinac Island, Michigan, in my early twenties. I remember listening intently to the waves slapping the shore and feeling a desire to write.  But what did I do with that feeling? Nothing. I let it pass.

Another time I met a handsome stranger, had an almost storybook romance, and parted leaving a note explaining why I couldn’t be intimate with him yet proclaiming boldly to look for me in the future on the back cover of a romance novel. (I didn’t mention he may be the leading man.) At the time, I’m not sure I believed it nor why I allowed the thought to be put in print. Nonetheless, again . . . I let it pass.

A third time I remember winds of inspiration prompting me to write, but again I ignored them. I was married now with a husband at war, and I too called to active duty. As I sat alone in a third floor room at the Miami MOB unit for the U.S. Marine Corps, the large flag outside waved beyond the open window. I recall being eye level with Old Glory studying her stripes and stars while listening to the wind caress her sides gently on a sunny afternoon in January:

 The flapping sounds repeated at a steady pace: Flap. Flap. Fa-lap. 

I remember focusing on the sound, so steady, so loud. 

I thought about her stripes, and I pondered her stars.                 

I thought of my husband and our soldiers

representing her every red, white, and blue thread.

And of course I thought about what many

wives fear to dread. Flap. Flap. Fa-lap.

The beat of her wave continued in the wind.

My desire to write filled me deep within.

I had strong thoughts and feelings without words.

I didn’t think I could do it. I’ve no talent is what I heard.

What could I say? What could I write?

How could I describe my patriotic fight?

Everything around me eventually blurred,

and the only sound I could hear was wind embracing her.

Flap. Flap. Fa-lap . . . Flap. Flap. Fl-flap-ap.

I listened for hours it seems, alone with my mind

and a patriotic reuniting dream.

My love could be lost for this flag.

How would I handle it? What would it mean?

Is it different for others than it is to me? Flap. Flap. Fa-lap. 

I should write what I am feeling. I should write it down.

                     But I don’t. I let it pass.

Yet again, decades later

old memories still can be found.

This time I write them now.

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It’s interesting. I didn’t have those words years ago. Is it because I didn’t try? I don’t know.  William Wordsworth describes poetry as “a spontaneous overflow of powerful emotions.” I was not familiar with his definition on the day above, but I fully understand it today and how recollectiong  those feelings creates poetry.  I didn’t know how to pen my overwhelming feelings then, and I’m not sure I do now other than to write them down and play with the words.

My insecure self still wonders if I am a writer.  Did I feel inspired to write? Yes. Do I feel inspired to write? Yes. And lately that feeling is steady. In the past it blew in like the wind, or washed by on a wave, and just as gently as it arrived, it gently went away. Today the inspiration is constant; it feels like a need. I know I must write if only for me.

I encourage you to follow your winds and waves of inspirations.  Ask yourself, how many waves of inspiration will you allow to flow thru your mind before you finally pen (or type) your first words as a writer? I hope you will be braver than I and not waste as much time. Go ahead and write that Shell of a Draft and start Polishing Your Message,  and do remember James’ advice, when asking for wisdom “let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed” (James 1:6 KJV)

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Please share below when you recall  your first time  being prompted to write but didn’t.