Author Intrusion: Inspire Me!

Driving home late yesterday afternoon with a tired mind, I passed a lime green Chevy Nova. I immediately thought of my grandfather. He had owned such a car late in his life. I pictured him behind the wheel with two eyes on the road and one ear on my grandmother, who was the world’s worst backseat driver. For the next twenty minutes I contemplated the life of Grandpa Clifford Schryver. I was named for the man, and our motto was, “Us Cliffs must stick together.”

My mind continued to play tricks on me. Before too long I was able to recall taking a long walk with Grandpa. I was about seven or eight years old. Grandpa and I were just walking and chatting, not really saying much, when I found a dime on the sidewalk. I recall being very excited and explaining to Grandpa Clifford that I would just walk the world looking for money.

“It don’t work that way,” Grandpa said. “You need to work hard.”
Which is of course my thought on writing. You don’t necessarily have to be overly inspired to complete the task. Sometimes all that you need to do is open up your mind and let the thoughts collect for you.

Through the years I have taught writing classes and given speech after speech about how to tackle the daunting task of telling a story. Most of the time I find it extremely difficult to explain myself. Perhaps this is the way to handle such a question: Writer’s…write, and talkers…talk. Therefore people who talk about writing are just talkers.

I very rarely need to be inspired to write, and that is most likely because I walk around with an open mind and a fresh notebook, looking for ideas. Immediately after contemplating my grandfather’s life, I heard an old Air Supply song. Back in college there were a couple of gals who loved Air Supply. I recalled sitting in their apartment as they played the record over and over. I feigned disgust each and every time the needle hit the vinyl, but twenty-some years later I drove through town thinking of college and wondering what my old friends were up to. I was able to sing every word of the song, and it blew my mind to consider what the heart is able to trap.

The next time that you are looking to be inspired, sit back and allow your mind to take you on a trip, backward or forward. You’ll be writing in no time, but remember the words of my grandfather: “You need to work hard.”

Cliff Fazzolari is a professional writer and prolific author. He is on the Women and Children's Hospital of Buffalo PICU Parent Advisory Council. He currently resides in Blasdell, New York.