Finding a Muse While You Snooze?

What stories do you think they're writing in their dreams?

I hope you find the title as amusing as I do. Maybe it’s my sleep deprived self or the countless Dr. Seuss books I am asked to read each day, but I wanted to talk about where inspiration comes from, and this title just seemed too cute to pass up.

I am blessed with a job allowing me to interview, chat with, and get to know many talented writers. One of those writers is Mari McCarthy of Create Write Now. Mari recently asked me how my own writing is going. I was ashamed to tell her I haven’t been making time. With four young children and a business, I am just thankful to sleep most days. After responding to Mari, I told my husband “I need to make more time to write” and he pointed out I haven’t been journaling either. Some of my best short story ideas came as a result of journaling. When diligent about it, I would write in my journal before even hopping out of bed in the morning. I would try to recall my dreams and get them down on paper before they slipped away and I got busy with the day.

As my current husband and I chatted about time management and how busy things have been, he turned to me with a smirk and said “you haven’t killed your ex-husband lately either, I’m sure he misses reading those stories”. So, before I ask you to share your best dream inspired stories, or tell us where your story lines come from, I’ll share a cute story about how my dreams killed my ex.

I woke up quite disturbed and before drinking my coffee, I had to text Ben (my ex who is still a friend). I had a dream he had died and I was summoned by customs to leave the country and identify his body. The dream was so incredibly real I just had to know if he was okay. He responded to my text with a phone call; we laughed and I told him the entirety of the dream. He encouraged me to turn it into a short story on my blog…which I did…readers loved it, and we still get a good laugh about the situation.

This leads me to ask the question:

Where does your inspiration come from?

Photo Courtesy of Olivia Brey of Oh! Photography

Crystal is a church musician, business owner, active journaler, writer and blogger as well as a dairy farmer. She lives in Reedsville, Wisconsin with her husband, four young children (Carmen 8, Andre 7, Breccan 20 months, and Delphine 12 weeks), two dogs, two rabbits, four little piggies, and over 200 Holsteins. You can find Crystal blogging and reviewing books and all sorts of other stuff at: http://bringonlemons.blogspot.com/

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