Inspiration from the strangest source

So, by now if you know me you will notice that I am a Twilight fan. I really enjoy the books, and have read them over and over. But I recently heard the author Stephenie Meyer's backstory about how she came to write the book, and it was so compelling.

She said she dreamed one night about a girl talking to a vampire and went to her computer and wrote about it. This intrigued me, what an interesting way to start a book. She never intended to finish it, or even share it with anyone. She just wanted to finish the dream.

Here's the cool part: Stephenie has 3 very young boys. She spent about 4 months writing the first book. She wrote it during the day most days with one child sitting on her lap, another at her knee and Blues Clues blasting in the backround. When I heard that, I laughed out loud. That sounds EXACTLY like my day. In fact, as I type this blog I have one sitting on my lap.
She was just a mom, living her life and using her imagination. With a lot of encouragement from family and friends, she decided to send it to a publisher.


It made me think about my life right now. It consists of cheerios and diapers and laundry and yet I have such an active imagination. I think of all the songs I have written that I one day want to put in a record album, I think of all the movies I have tried to make, and all the books I have written in my head. And all of those things I have done only for myself. But they are dreams, silly dreams if you ask me and I never work on making those dreams come true. It feels childish and ridiculous. Even when I say it out loud sometimes I hear people snicker. I mean, I'm a mom I'm supposed to be mature.

But I love what Stephenie said about it. She said she wrote this book and had all these screaming fans who go to signings and premieres and it's such a big deal. And then she comes home and she's just mom. She really inspired me to be, well, me. So the next time I dream a big dream, I really am going to try harder not to feel silly or stupid but to follow my heart and use my creativity to see where that gets me.