THE GLOVED STICK stuck out like a snowman’s broken appendage. There, stuck in the snow, aside the Straight River Trail in south Faribault.
Camera in hand, I paused on a recent afternoon trail walk to photograph the lost grey glove. Scenes like this intrigue me because there’s always a story. Who lost the glove? Why? Who found the glove and then decided to stick it on a stick? Would the woman who lost the glove find it?
Real life often prompts my creative writing. Several weeks ago I wrote with a fury over two days, under pressure to meet a contest deadline. In those two full days of creating, I wrote two pieces of creative nonfiction, two short stories and two poems. The Muse moved within me and I felt it.
More often than not, I tap into my life for ideas. The “write what you know” adage holds true for me.
In writing fiction, I can take a snippet of truth and craft it into a short story that rings with reality, except it’s not. A text shaped one of the pieces I crafted. The other story came from some dark place I have not yet unearthed.
The recent death of my mom resulted in a poem and a work of creative nonfiction. A sign in a barbershop window prompted the second piece of creative nonfiction.
And my second poem emerged from a previous walk along a riverside trail in Faribault. Not the same path of broken snowman appendage. But a place where fingers of snow wrote stories across asphalt.
TELL ME: If you are a creative, what inspires you in your writing/painting/creating? I’d like to hear.
© Copyright 2022 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
Minnesota Prairie Roots 
Real life inspires me and I, like you, write what I know.
I always appreciate your writing, Beth Ann.
I have a tendency to get the creative mind on when out in nature, especially in regards to the light or near water. I think part of it is due to breaking away from the cube walls at work and/or taking a break from the house reno (finally in the home stretch and then taking a break for a bit – still have the kitchen to update but good to go for now). I love your creativity and your great story telling 🙂 Happy Creating, Happy Exploring – Enjoy!
Thank you, Renee, for appreciating my writing. I appreciate your positivity.
House reno is exhausting so I’m thankful you take breaks and escape into nature.
I love this picture and words as I’m always fascinated by things list or left behind. I tend to get my creative inspirations from things I experience, encounter, read or hear in my life. Also things that trigger memories for me-
Thanks for sharing the source of your creativity. I appreciate you and your writing.
Adventures and nature (which is usually an adventure!) are my inspirations.
I love your sharing your adventures and nature via your images and words. You take me to places I would not otherwise see.
Hi Audrey. What inspires my writing is so varied that I would have a hard time limiting the labeling of it. What I see, what I read and hear, what I do and don’t do, the people around me, nature and animals, sermons, Biblical scripture, life’s challenges… I could go on and on… writers like you inspire me ❤
Jan, thank you for sharing that which inspires you to write. And thank you for appreciating me and my writing.