Friday Speak Out!: The Give and Take of Inspiration

by Margay Leah Justice

As I travel the internet on my self-designed virtual tour for the promotion of my debut novel, I am often asked variations of the same question: What inspired you to write? Or, what inspired you to write this book? Everybody wants to know what started it all. What started me on the path to publication and how the story idea came into being. I love answering these questions because inspiration plays a major role in everything we do. This is especially true for writers.

Well, recently, I was introduced to a different type of inspiration. Not the internal kind that affected my choices for career path and story ideas, but rather, an external form. I have become the inspiration for others. Just within the past two weeks, I have inspired two of my family members to write their own stories. One is my older daughter, who assured me that she still plans to attend college next year to pursue her degree in nursing, and the other is one of my nephews, who didn't even like to read until he picked up my book. Not only did my book set him on a path to reading more, he was inspired to write his own!

Inspiration is a heady thing, whether you are on the receiving end of it or the one dishing it out. With inspiration, you can literally scale the heights of the world’s tallest mountain, explore the depths of the ocean, find the cure for cancer, or create a heart-breaking work of cinematic beauty. With inspiration, you can mold the mind of an eager child and encourage her to reach – or even surpass – the heights of her own imagination, to become whatever it is that she wants to become.

As I sit here writing this, I think about the legacy I want to leave behind for my children and their children when I’m no longer here. Inspiring others to try something new and reach for dreams they didn’t even know they had until they read my book is quite a legacy to leave behind.

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A writer since she could hold a pen, Margay Leah Justice is the author of two published books, Sloane Wolf and The Scent of Humanity, and is hard at work on her next big idea. When she isn't writing, she enjoys knitting and reading. She lives in Massachusetts with her family.
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Would you like to participate in Friday "Speak Out!"? Email your short posts (under 500 words) about women and writing to: marcia[at]wow-womenonwriting[dot]com for consideration. We look forward to hearing from you!

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