Inspiration

Dear Want-to-Be Writers of the World,

Ages ago  - at least that is how May of 2016 now feels to me - I wrote an entry about Chess and Chekhov. And how this inspired me when I hit a lull in my creativity. (For those of your who have not read it and wish to do so now, here is the link: http://xanthi-rising.blogspot.nl/2016/05/chess-and-chekhov.html And if you don't that's okay as well.) That post kind of digressed into the subject of how we (perhaps ?) should see the world and the future.

So today I would like to continue the discussion of inspiration. For example, the inspiration for today's blog has been bubbling below the surface for quite a while now. But - at least in my experience, perhaps this is different in yours - to properly surface and blossom, you have to take your time. No chores, no appointments....just you and the paper. (Or - for us Bloggers - PC.) And - as mentioned in Chess and Chekhov - the right music.

It is at this point that I must give credit where credit is due....This post was inspired by my Uncle Roel. A while ago, he wrote a book called Music That Makes Your Heart Sing. A book containing a selection of 99 works of music, with space 100 left empty for the reader to fill in himself. (For details see....http://www.roelsteenbergen.nl/muziek-/ Alas, the site comes only in Dutch. But there is always Google Translate.) When I got my copy, I believed that I would never fill in space 100. It simply did not feel like my cup of tea.

But - as also mentioned in that old blog - time (and perhaps life) is change. So I found my number 100 in the form of a song called Hallelujah. But with this conclusion rose a very difficult question....which version ? This song has many a version (having been covered by many an artist), but the two most popular ones - or so they seem to me - are Leonard Cohen and Jeff Buckley.

The key difference between these two versions is the lyrics. Both are about a man in trouble. But whereas the Cohen version ends with the man pushing through his pain and clinging to his faith, the Buckley version ends with doubt and loneliness. So which is the better ? I honestly do not know. Some days Cohen wins out, while the other the Buckley ends up on top.

The point I am trying to make here is that while you may find fixed sources of inspirations, others maybe be in flux. Some days they may inspire you to write, while on others they fall flat. And that is okay. For that is life. And in my opinion there is only one way to deal with this flux. To have as many sources of inspiration as possible. Agree ? Disagree ? Like I have said before, decide for yourself.

Edmond Dantes