Inspiration

Last Sunday I went and saw one of my favorite writers, one of my inspirations: Neil Gaiman. He's kind of a rock star of the writing world. It was my third time seeing him "live" and for Savannah, my 16-year-old daughter, it was her first.

We didn't get to meet him in person, sadly, but we did get to experience the energy he pumps into a room as he reads from his work or speaks. He was reading from an expanded re-issue of American Gods and talking about where his inspiration came from.

Unsurprisingly, it wasn't any one place. American Gods came from a disconnected dialogue in Neil's head, a sleepless night in Reykjavik, a fascination with just how weird America is...and that's just the start of it.

Inspiration is the spark that lights the flame. Inspiration, by its definition, is unexpected, surprising, unplanned, revolutionary. It's sometimes called "divine influence" or "sacred revelation." It rarely comes from a single place, but as Neil pointed out, from a collection of thoughts, memories, events, and people.

Of course, people. Neil talked about often getting inspired by reading fantastically bad fiction, with the thought "I may be writing crap today, but at least I'm better than this."

Writers inspire me. Music inspires me. They inspire me to write, to draw, to design, to create. Here's a few that consistently light the spark in me.

Neil Gaiman inspires me with his imagination and his ability to share it in so many different media.

Rachael Yamagata inspires me with her voice, her insights into the human heart, and her willingness to "go there"...wherever there may be.

Stephen King inspires me with his natural writing style and his way with characters.

Trespassers William inspire me with unearthly, soulful, haunting music.

And John Green - John's the kind of writer I'd like to be, someone who's connected to his audience and who clearly loves what he does. It shines through when he talks about it and it beams out of his books. The man just loves to write. And he inspires others.

Just yesterday, John announced the title of his newest book, due out in 2012: The Fault In Our Stars. The title is a take on a Shakespeare quote from Julius Caesar, and as the book doesn't have a cover yet, John gave his readers a chance to try their hand at making covers for him.

I couldn't resist. Mine is below. And here's everyone else's. Inspiration comes in many forms. Thank goodness for that!

Passage

It's probably strange to start a blog about branding, marketing, recruiting, and social media with something like this - but you've got to start somewhere.

My eldest daughter, Maia, graduated high school tonight. I scared the living daylights out of the people during in front of me when I yelled for her, but I didn't care. I watched her, and a couple hundred of her classmates, walk the big walk and take their diploma. On their way off the stage, each had a look in their eyes. They might give the thumbs up or stick out their tongue or just try not to trip over their own feet, but the look was the same: hope.

This is what rites of passage do. They close a door and open up a universe. They're scary and exciting and usually chaotic. Graduations, falling in love, weddings, births, moving, breaking up, divorce, quitting, changing jobs...all times of endings and beginnings.

I've had a few of those myself, and I've learned from all of them. I'm happy to say I'm still learning. I've recently been through a rite of passage our two of my own. I didn't expect them or ask for them...but they came anyway, and they opened up more possibilities than they closed. This is where I'll write about what happens next.

So I watched Maia and the others as they crossed the stage into their new lives. They have so much ahead of them. And a lot behind them. I may be at a point where I have more to look back on than forward to. I'm probably a little jaded, so I may not always have something good to say. I'm picky, so I may be critical.

But I have hope. And that's a start.