Visiting the Old West for Inspiration

 Ah, Diamond Lake! My family and I have been coming here to camp every summer since the summer of 2000. The annual family camping trip used to consist of anywhere from 12 to 20 people depending on how many can show up that year. Tack on people that bring a friend, and the numbers can go higher. I haven’t been on the family camping trip for three years. And when I did go, I often ended up doing some work while there. 

Over the years as a writer, I’ve learned that all work and no play 

makes any author a little grumpy. We creatives need to put 

ourselves into a different environment now and then, experience 

new things, and just get out of the house. Different things inspire 

different people. At home, I live in a log cabin in the word but it’s 

in a canyon, so no wide-open space there. So guess what I’m 

attracted to when I go someplace new. You guessed it, wide 

open spaces! Such as the site of Custer's last stand in the 

picture below.

Writers draw inspiration from all sorts 

of different things. Not just 

getting out of the house now and then. 

I often listen to music 

while writing, especially if the scene is 

an emotional one. 

Other’s have their special writing place. 

I know one woman who 

literally used to write in a closet. She 

writes in an alcove near 

her stairs now. For others, it’s the 

kitchen table. Others have 

their office set up just so, while some write outside, look at their 

garden, and get inspiration that way. Me? I love to travel.

Writers need inspiration to stay fresh, enjoy the writing process, 

(which can be grueling at times) and come up with fun, new 

ideas for their stories. If everything remained the same, day in 

and day out, a writer can become stale and it shows in their 

writing. 

This is true of most artists, be they 

writers, painters, 

illustrators, are in film or music, or 

whatever their art consists of. 

We need inspiration on different levels 

as we’re all different. As I 

write historical westerns, I find it fun to 

go to old west historical 

sites! Museums are also fun! These 

places give me great ideas 

and inspiration. Who knows how my 

stories would turn out if I 

didn’t travel to some of these places? So the next time you read 

a historical romance, think about where the author might have 

got her or his inspiration for their story from.

 

Until next time,

Kit