Creativity is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, every time. Whether it's a sunset on a distant shore or the street art you see every day, finding the beauty in the moment is where inspiration finds its roots.
My most favorite book ever is a collection called The Mysteries of Harris Burdick with illustrations by Chris Van Allsburg. In it are fourteen mysterious story starters accompanied by a haunting image that readers are encouraged to turn into their own story.
Below is a collection my own; my version of Burdick’s mysteries. I take these pictures myself; many have been digitally manipulated to increase dramatic effect. I’ve included a story starter meant to encourage your own creativity. Today is a great day to write!
(If you like what you see and are interested in ordering prints, please click on the button “Show Me.” You will be redirected to my Society6 Shop where you can order a print or product with that image. I add new material regularly, so check back!)
I felt the crisp wind at my back as I walked closer to the white shed in an empty field off of highway 12. The note, left discretely inside of my office breezeway, had been explicit. And as I was just five minutes from the time it mentioned, I quickened my pace, not wanting to miss what lay before me...
I opened my eyes, and couldn't make sense of the images before my eyes. Fractured panels that danced and overlapped one another. I closed my eyes, thinking a second attempt might prove more helpful. But when I opened them again, the fractures remained. The surgery had been a success...
It wasn't much. She knew that. It was literally falling apart and hardly worth the five-thousand dollars she'd paid for it. The surrounding acreage was a different story. But it was hers and she was ready to take on the challenge. She had ideas, dream, and Callie needed a home, so she'd give her one. One she'd built with her own hands.
Loud, trumpeting jazz played from the record player, skipping on three seconds of sound before looping back on itself. The puss that had been circling my ankles paced over to the player, tapping the record to move the needle past the skip. "I've never liked this album much."...
Maybe if I just ignore the voices they will go away. But the possibility that Micah was in trouble wasn't something I could completely disregard...
The wall that wasn't a wall rose before him. If was going to prove himself, the time had arrived...
He'd have to deal with the fallout of quitting eventually. But for today, he knew he'd had enough. It was time to fix up the truck in the back lot and leave...
It wasn't fall without Chester. His rough fur scratching against her legs, cuddling up for an extra hour of snuggles before the day really started...
Alicia couldn't get the image of the creature out of their mind. It had looked like driftwood, but if Gran was right, and they had visions while dreaming, then the creature was real...
Ben couldn't close his eyes without seeing the wreck play out slowly, on repeat in his mind. The sound of the woman's voice as his car crashed into her bike. He didn't even know her name...
As the film developed, Jackson knew. The images were not just the lost remnants of that night, they were a clue to his next steps...
The city no longer held its sway on my heart. I paid my bill, leaving a generous tip to the waitress with the crooked grin. I stood, and began to walk away...
The bathroom smelled of piss and where the mirror should have been, a taunting sticker with a childhood rhyme stared back at me. As if to mock what I knew I'd see...
Calin couldn't have known that Methlulian's name hadn't been mentioned in the halls of Leathlu since the end of the last age. But when Calin spoke his name now, the ground beneath him shook...
"Like looking through a tealiscoape!" Latti excitedly observed. She looked up from the contraption to see her father's face turn grim...
The farm didn't look right. The way the dulled paint on the barn flaked off in the heat of the summer. The browning grass that stretched out from the front door, neglected in the drought. But dad's face seemed older, and the fact that mom wasn't there on the front porch to greet me left a sense of decay I wasn't ready to accept...
The images on the card were handwritten. Symbols that presumably meant something to the intended recipient. But to Vale, who just so happened to miss his train and find himself seated in an unfamiliar car for his delayed commute, they were nothing more than childish scribbles...
Kevin went to the same bar every day. You could set your watch to it; he did. The chime and buzz on his left wrist an indication that it was time to shut down his computer, lock the door, and walk the three blocks to Boffards Beer Hall. And today was no different...
"Those windows lead to the ocean," Evelyn began, pointing to the western side of the court hall. "But these, " now she pointed eastward, "these lead into the Dayline Planes. And we keep these windows closed at all times."...
If I didn't know better, I'd think she brought me here to help me relax. What with the yoga classes, the sunrise meditation, the "cleansing tea" breaks and "nourishing blend" smoothies. If it weren't for the fact that I knew the body was still tied up, mostly likely starting to smell, in the back of the closet, she'd probably have gotten here way. As it was, I couldn't stop thinking about the dry cleaning bill...
We had all had such high hopes for the new planet. Each of us planning out a lifetime of new beginnings, filled with hopes and dreams. The disappointment in finding Earth IV to be desolate was putting it lightly; I wondered how Neal was holding up on Earth III...
I knew the route by heart. Left. Right. Two Lefts. Down a flight of stairs. Seven paces. Then through the green door in the yellow wall. I was escaping tonight...