What Inspires the Writer?

I could also ask, "What inspires the writing? for many times it is hard to separate the writer from the writing.

Many days...times when the writing takes a break or I, the writer do...I look up and there is my proof...at least for me...at least some clue...and I smile for what my heart sees to connect with if only to capture the next word or phrase...

Upstate...Lake Ontario Shoreline view...while sitting on her bank hard not to dream about what sits on the other side; or to notice that cloud mass coming in, or the fog; or the stillness of the Lake as the sun chooses to move on down the horizon; watching for the patterns by day and trying to guess the probability or intensity of the storm by sound or instinct alone by night. Ah, but the Captains and Mariners of old could tell better than I. Then again, I've heard stories told down more than not, saying "The Lake, that one Ontario, storms she can brew more dangerous than the Ocean for the waves she could produce, especially deep middle as she crosses..."

And here I am going on and on telling yet another story...you see it's, well,...hard not to with so much in front of my sight and memory eyes, for each image I have imbedded in heart and most days of my life I have seen them replay.

Hard not to learn the stories, carried down like some daily bread and having the landscape and history remains all around to confirm the telling mostly true. Like the stories of the Ore Beds and the Erie Canal...next town over, due West or South. None have I written, songs that is...but many have been written and sung while traveling along the Erie Canal on boat or cargo barge. http://www.eriecanalcruises.com/index.html

Time has changed...and I suspect maybe the mule, still the landscape much the same, at least that space between the Villages and Towns along her path...but the heart and the words that come to a heart tredgin' on down the Erie Canal on a summer's day...no, not that much has changed at all.

Jane Marla VerDow