Ideas From Books and Writers

Do you read just to read, or do you read to get new ideas? How many times do you finish a story, and find that your brain is suddenly teeming with new ideas?

I don't really go to a book, intending to be struck with new ideas. However, I admit that most books inspire me to read more in whichever genre I just finished, and to see if my brain kicks in with some inspiration of its own. For instance, I just finished "Under the Green Hill" by Laura Sullivan, and now I'm dying to read up on May Day, and the Seelie and Unseelie courts, and see what kind of story my mind comes up with. Now, I'm reading "Leviathan" by Scott Westerfield, and I'm itching to read more Steampunk and visualize old stories in this Steampunk setting. I mean, how novel would it be to have a Steampunk Rapunzel? Seriously?

(As an aside, I watched "Tangled" a couple weeks ago. I highly recommend it. It was such a novel take on an old story.)

In the same tone, do you read of another writer's success and get excited to start submitting more? Or do you just feel depressed and rather "un-writerly"? How often do you read of someone else's success, and get pumped to do some success writing of your own? I admit, reading of others successes makes me DETERMINED to succeed, as well.

For example, one of my critique partners, Kelly Hashway, is ROCKING! She is a serious role model for me. I want to be just like her when I grow up. (Including the stay-at-home Mom addition, Kelly. Just so you know. ;)) She has gotten tons of acceptances recently, including a forthcoming Picture Book. Congratulations, Kelly! She has inspired me to get digging into my own writing, and not just to write, but to submit, submit, submit.

So, what's your opinion? Do you read books to get ideas, or just to read? Do you read success stories just to get motivated, or just to congratulate the writer?

A Writer's World

I'm sure every writer has had this kind of thing happen; you go to bed, lay down, shut your eyes....and start thinking, "what if?"

I did this last night. I went to bed at around 10:30pm last night, exhausted out of my mind after a lengthy few hours of writing, excited because I'm planning on doing the National Picture Book Contest that starts on Saturday May 1st, but tired. As soon as I laid down, ideas started running through my head, and I could not sleep. After about 45 minutes of tossing and turning I got up, turned on the light (ignoring my sisters groaning), found a pencil and some paper and wrote down my ideas. Then I went back to bed. Just in case, though, I brought my paper and pencil with me. Good thing I did! I jotted down several more ideas before, relieved that I hadn't let those inspirations escape, I fell asleep.

Unfortunately, I had to get up at 6am the next morning to get to work on time. However, I guess 7 hours of sleep is a good compensation for golden ideas. Do you agree?