Inspiration

Photo by Barry J. Holmes

One of the things I love about art is that it breeds more art. More specific to me, when I read, I write more, and I also tend to write better. Reading good writing inspires me. I just finished Margaret Atwood's The Robber Bride, and now I'm enjoying making my way through Curtis Sittenfeld's American Wife. Neither book is something I would have picked for a purely "fun" read, but as a writer with publication dreams I chose to read these novels to broaden my literary palate. And I don't regret it. Atwood is a master of words, and Sittenfeld is keeping me interested in her Laura Bush-esque protagonist even though I have no great interest in politics or American Mrs. Presidents. Every good book that I read -- as well as every bad one -- teaches me something as a writer, and I always walk away the better for it.

The same with hooping. I find both writing and hooping very vulnerable activities. Perhaps that's because both are so very worth doing, if that makes sense. There is value in writing as well as in hooping. When I feel intimidated by my hoop, I seek out hooping inspiration, such as the Hoop Technique video featuring professional hoop dancers and mind-blowing artists Spiral and Rich Porter (pictured above). Beth Lavinder, whose video is below, is another hoop dancing inspiration, and not just because we share the same first name.

Hoopers like Spiral, Rich, and Beth inspire me to return to the hoop and dance, just as authors like Atwood and Sittenfeld inspire me to return to the page and scrawl out my own writings. Writing is one of those rare things outside of God that is never void, that makes life worth living, even if I never get published. Art helps me reconnect to that purpose, and to enjoy it, and it inspires me to keep at my own version of artistic creation.

What inspires you to do whatever it is that you do?