www.andrewmackay.net:

My son is not that old… he’s coming up on the two year marker (rather quickly, in fact). Young though he is, he’s beginning to show flashes of imagination, and I love it.

His world is small. There are people he knows by name, but not many of them. His concept of work is severely crippled by the fact that his dad works from home (to him, work means sequestering yourself in a different room). His concept of the rest of the world consists of the places he routinely ends up (CVS, Walmart, Walgreens, Church, and the Library). And yet, within his little world, there is great opportunity for invention. He can be one of his great aunts going to work. He can be any one of his grandparents going to Walmart. He can be daddy. He can be mommy. He can be Farmer Dooley. Whatever occurs to him, he makes happen (the gender confusion thing, I’m sure, will sort itself out). The language barrier is still strongly in place — I can’t get too much of a window into what he’s thinking, yet. But I love watching it develop. It’s a great reminder of how fantastic and big and different the world is when you’re not accustomed to it.

Experiencing the familiar through the eyes of someone experiencing the new is inspiring; it’s a gift from my son to me, and often a gift from a writer to their readers.

There’s a moment in Hitch (yeah, the Will Smith/Kevin James romantic comedy) where Kevin James’ character, Albert, is trying to impress Alegra Cole. He’s doing so by sucking up to her clothing designer friend Maggie (who, for comedic effect, is a man). Albert asks Maggie, “Where do you find your inspiration?”

The response is, “Oh gosh, I don’t know… anywhere…”

Lame! I think… I feel like my inspiration comes from what I love. For example, I love family. I love God’s plan for family, I love the big impact it has on lives, so I’m motivated to make art that reflects that. In fact, in the science fiction work I’m currently attempting, one of my goals was to write an effective sci-fi protagonist that didn’t have mommy or daddy issues.

Not that parental issues don’t exist — indeed, they do. They are often motivators in human experience. Which brings me to another source of inspiration: truth. Things that are true are things that I endeavor to reflect in my writing. Things that are true are often things that are difficult: life can be ugly. Life can be beautiful. Reflecting that in art is a worthy endeavor.

Where do you find your inspiration?