Tuesday's Inspiration - People

Today I've been thinking about people who have inspired me to write. To write you must be a reader.

When I was a very young child, my grandfather used to read to me. He would put his finger under each word as he read. When I was three, I began to read back to him. From him I learned the love of books. He also taught me to observe people when we were out at interesting places like the circus and the zoo or just walking about.

My father was the next one. There were always books in the house and we were encouraged to read. I'm afraid I was the one of the children who wanted to read every book on the shelves. In third grade I wrote a book report on Anna Karenina and horrified the teacher for two reasons. One bacause I read the book and the other because I wrote an alternate ending.
My father confronted the teacher and said "She can read any book on the shelves of my house. Did she understand what she read." The teacher had to agree. About changing the ending, he thought that was cool. When I published my first book, he read every word and he showed the book to everyone whether they were interested or not.

There was a teacher in school and I don't remember her name but she encouraged my writing and thought I should go to college for journalism. I did not do this but as a nurse many of my patients became inspirations for the characters in the books I write today.

The last inspirations are my grandchildren. They are found at various ages in many of my stories. Just bits and pieces of them. I remember using the oldest twice in one story. As the stubborn funny two year old and as the bright seven year old. They are the characters in my YA fantasy series. Not every part of them but their personalities come through.

Who were your inspirations to write? Think outside the box when you're looking to identify them.