My 4x4 Assignment

Joanna Young has a project for us. This is my attempt to meet her deadline of midnight on March 28th. The project? 4x4 Sources of Writing Inspiration. She lays out the rules on her blog Confident Writing. I wasn't really up for the challenge until I happened upon a rather amusing ramble by Robert Hruzek at Middle Zone Musings. I suggest taking a peek.

This has been an excellent exercise for me. I chose the senses. If you read the rules before getting this far, your probably saying wait a minute aren't there 5 senses not 4? You would be correct and there in lies one revelation, I do not rely on taste as much as the other senses. Maybe I will pay more attention to tastes from now on. The other revelation was that I draw inspiration from nostalgia. I don't necessarily find the particular smell, touch, sight or sound to be inspiring. Rather I'm inspired by the relationship I have associated with the sense. I'll let the psychologists pick that one apart.

So here it goes.....

4x4 Sources of Writing Inspiration: by Bob Loch

4 Smells

1. I'm a sucker for fresh cut grass. Doesn't seem to matter if I do the cutting or not. If I am the driver of gas powered lawn Flowbee I savor the smell; that means I can relax and have an ice cold bottle of the working man's champagne. Even as a pedestrian on a finely manicured lawn with eighteen strategically placed holes, the same feeling overcomes me.
2. As summer fades from green to orange, yellow and red; then finally to gray, I relish in the aroma of burning leaves as they seem to permeate the countryside.
   
3. Seasons appear to be a repeating theme here as I think about the odor that accompanies the lake shore on late summer afternoon. I had the privilege of transitioning from boy to man in small Minnesota town. As opposed to my wife, who won't swim in any body of water that is devoid of chlorine, I thrive on the smell of dried weeds, algae and yes even a dead fish or two.
4. To get off the topic of seasons, my last scent is that of a new baby diaper. What isn't inspiring about new life? While a slightly used, or out right soiled on will do; I prefer a new one. I will miss the day the last of my children carry with them the fresh aroma of purity and innocence.

4 Sensations

1. Remember dating? Remember the sweaty palms anticipating some kind of physical contact? I still feel this way with my wife. It's not the deliberate caresses as much as it is the accidental brushes as we walk together. It still sends lightening through me as it did when we first met.
2. I'm as bad as my kids sometimes when it rains. I too love to run in the rain and feel it as it soaks my soul. Rain carries from the heavens a renewal of life. It satisfies the thirsty and gives relief to the exhausted.
3. While I am barely a student of the guitar, I love the way it feels in my arms. I crave my practice sessions as my fingers build calluses navigating the frets. Somehow this grabs the artist within me by the shoulders and shakes.
4. Though I am not a proponent of drugs, there is one high I can relate to; a runner's high. The sweet release of a runner's high gives you the sensation of complete relaxation while also feeling in control and well accomplished.
   

4 Sights

1. I mentioned earlier that I was raised in Minnesota. I now live in Iowa. As I navigate the Iowa back country I am mesmerized by the shadows cast down by the clouds on the treeless fields. A soundtrack begins playing in my head as I tune out everything but what I see and the thoughts in my mind.
2. If you have ever been to the Iowa State Fair, you would agree; it's inspiring. The people alone could be fodder for endless pages of creative description. This is the type of event that draws people who wear clothes 2 sizes too small, got dressed in the dark and picked out every tattoo in a drunken stupor.
   
3. I love snow! There I said it. I'm a Minnesotan/Iowan and I love snow. It's incredible! Some nights as I take the garbage out or walk to my car I just stand and watch the snow fall. There is a purity that seems to accompany it. Notice I'm talking about falling snow; not yellow snow.
4. What could make you more aware of your significance, or insignificance, than looking out the window of an airplane. I've always been saddened in the fact that my mother has yet to experience this. You almost feel as though you're taking God's perspective.

4 Sounds

1. One sound that will live with me, whether I hear it again or not, is the sound of a crowd cheering as you finish a marathon. You don't have to be first, or even be running for that matter. The support and encouragement of total strangers give you faith in the human race.
2. Anything by Ella Fitzgerald; enough said.
3. I am in awe of the sounds that accompany an early morning fishing trip. The splash of the boat in the water as the ripples spread across the glass surface and thump an old tire against the dock. There is the hum of a small 5 horsepower Johnson motor propelling you to that secluded spot that is cradled between a wooded shoreline and brown thicket of reeds. The red wing black birds call out as your reel wines, finishing with a plop of your bobber in the water a few feet away.
4. Alone in a wood on a fall afternoon draws me closer to my natural side. Maybe it is the same reason Thoreau found solace in Walden. In particular I enjoy finding a tree to sit against, close my eyes and just listen. Squirrels scurrying through the canopy in hopes to prepare for winter. The rustle of dried leaves as tiny creatures unseen to me, even if I had my eyes open. The call of nature as birds sing, squirrels and chipmunks chatter, and a breeze washes over it all muffling it in the tumble of the forest as it turns over and rests for the winter.

Through reflection and much thought, I've found these are a few of my sources of inspiration.